Obama sounds good, but words aren't enough

[Herman Munster]

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opklu155577880feb15,0,102266.column

First and foremost, just how is Obama going to bring the country together and find common ground on the substantive issues that have so divided it for almost three decades? Just saying you want to bring people together isn't sufficient. Where is the common ground on giving women the right to choose versus embracing the right-to-life argument? How do you pull troops out of Iraq without re-energizing al-Qaida or compromising the gains from the surge? How will you reduce the cost of health care to make it more affordable, when the medical inflation rate has been at least twice that of the general inflation rate? And how do you convince Americans that some taxes might have to be raised to pay for universal access to health care or to make Social Security and Medicare solvent for the next generation?

We here in New York have been scarred by the experience of Gov. Eliot Spitzer. He came into office as the great, new hope, vowing to change the way things were done in Albany, and he's run into a stone wall. His surprising lack of political finesse has been a huge disappointment. Remember the crushed promise of Jimmy Carter? Good intentions aren't enough. And, by the way, the comparison of Obama to John F. Kennedy makes me uncomfortable. JFK's record was poor in his approximately 1,000 days.

I understand that the Spitzer analogy might not be valid. He took the steamroller approach, and Obama says he'll be a conciliator. But you know what? Sen. Clinton has been a very effective cloakroom player in the Senate. She's demonstrated her political touch in surprising ways, working with former political enemies to craft legislative compromises. Her reputation as a polarizing figure isn't fair.

There's one school of political thought that believes that if you're really going to be a change agent, you have to be ready to go to political war, not be a compromiser. In fact, the question is whether there really is common ground on some of these big issues. According to this view, compromisers don't get that much accomplished.

[kurth]

1. Very bad article

Full of Heresy, Apostasy, and Blasphemy.

[BenDavid]

2. Gee, are you calling obama a beelzebud? my goodness......

I believe obama prides himself in being able to deliver a good speech. And that is all he has. Once you get past the flash and dash there is nothing behind it. If obama is the nominee he will set the democratic party back for another eight years......we had this election won until obama decided he just had to save us all......

[Thrill]

6. I wonder if some of you even think

before you post. You sound ridiculous

[blitzen]

9. geez that's about the biggest load of crap i've heard in a while...

and by "that" I mean your bullshit post, BenDavid!

[TwilightGardener]

3. "Re-energizing al qaeda"? "Compromising the gains of the surge"? No offense, but

that's right-wing BS. What presence there IS of AQ in Iraq (loosely affiliated Sunni groups) is being taken care of by Iraqis. They don't want terror groups either. They started killing them on their own (Anbar), and so we took that idea and started paying former inusrgents to keep doing it for us--but anyone who believes AQ is the main problem, or the main reason we're staying in Iraq, is buying the BS that BushCo is feeding. And the surge "gains"--well, the surge is over, buddy. It ends this summer, by necessity--we don't have the troops to keep it up, they're going back to pre-surge levels, and then we're right back into 2006. I hope these aren't really your views on the war, because it sounds like GOP talking points. I am hoping for a slow, responsible withdrawal, over probably 18 months to two years, with a gradual handoff to Iraqis, region by region. As Obama said, "as careful getting out as we were careless getting in".

on edit--oops, I thought YOU wrote this! Missed the link. Well, my comments still stand.

[saltpoint]

4. Language lifts. We mark history by it, even as it defines the history we

learn from.

Shelley had it right about poets. ("Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.")

[Strelnikov_]

7. "You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air . . "

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realised; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward towards its goal. But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, "come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.

http://www.fiftiesweb.com/usa/churchill-blood-toil.mp3

Yes, it does.

[saltpoint]

10. That Churchill fellow... the man could put a sentence or two together, yes?

The poet courses through great men's and great women's minds.

Thank you for that passage.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

15. First the carrot....THEN the stick.

[Hill_YesWeWill]

5. I guess those people he helped in Chicago, they were just given books or something?

:boring:

oh yes, my god you've made me come to my senses. Somehow Obama has gotten to where he is despite not boing ANYTHING, and he has the gall, the audacity, to speak words no less!!

:boring: :boring:

[ErnestoG]

12. Words Obama DIDN'T speak - "I vote yes on the Iraq War"

[usregimechange]

8. Your right, which is why he should be President, the best judgment, best plans, best integrity, etc

imo

[ErnestoG]

11. So give him a chance to make good. Hillary's had her chance...

and we got the Iraq War. Fuck dat.

[usregimechange]

17. That ought to do it

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. Scarred by Spitzer? How about IRAQIS and US SOLDIERS SCARRED BY HILLARY'S WAR?

Hillary could divorce cheating lying Bill,
she could apologize for her vote on Iraq that has caused many deaths and injuries,
and she could dedicate her life to bringing peace to the world instead of causing war.

But she will never do those things, the things that could rehabilitate her in my eyes.

[ErnestoG]

14. Well spoken.

[usregimechange]

16. "We hold these truths to be self-evident" just words...

[LordJFT]

18. your disclaimer says it all spitzer comparison: totally invalid