The tug of a candidate who offers smarts and hope

[babylonsister]

The tug of a candidate who offers smarts and hope


Barack Obama jets into Seattle today for a "Generation Obama" event. Why does that simple sentence sound so intriguing? After all, isn't he just another candidate hitting the giant ATM in area code 206?

Yes, Obama is repeating the ceaseless ritual of raising money, shaking hands, then running back to the airport. But in this most epic of presidential campaigns, there remains something fresh and fascinating about him, something that transcends all that ordinariness.

It's the new candidate versus the old, the new story instead of the more familiar, tired one. This is not unlike product advertising. New and different is often more appealing than the well-known.

A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll showed Hillary Clinton leading Obama by 6 points in New Hampshire. Voters find her more experienced, the candidate with a better chance to win in '08. But Obama, they say, is vastly more inspiring.

I am undecided for president, but lately, Obama's candidacy has been tugging at me with details large and small.

I like his stance on the biggest issue of the campaign, the Iraq war. He need not get tongue-tied explaining his views because he opposed the war from the beginning.

At the same time his chief opponent was voting for the war resolution, Obama, then a state senator, gave a speech to an Illinois anti-war audience that requires no apology or explaining today.

He said: "I don't oppose all wars. ... What I am opposed to is a dumb war. ... What I am opposed to is a rash war."

more...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004064154_joni11.html

[Munch]

1. Unfortunately...

Obama has voted to fund the Iraq war whenever the administration asked for money.

In lockstep.

What has he actually DONE to get us out of this mess? Besides avoid hard votes and tough decisions.

Style over substance -- talk is cheap.

But the under-40 crowd doesn't realize this.

Aaaah, youth... the cure for all ills.