Diamondbacks Bullpen

[Bob A]

Barack Obama just officially announced his presidential candidacy this morning. He has said of his inexperience that only those who have been president have the qualifications to be president (in Bush's case even that obviously wasn't true).

My question to this esteemed pannel is, what do you guys think of him? Is he legit? Would you prefer him over HIllary?

[DesertKnight]

Obama certainly has the brains and the charisma to be a very good president, and he would certainly be able to get more done than Hillary (because no Republican would put aside the bitterness long enough to work with her). That said, I'm still hoping Richardson wins the Democratic nod.

[TAP]

[moviegeekjn]

I've read both of his books and am very impressed. He seems like the real deal indeed--very level headed, analytical, and possessing tremendous ability to work with people of diverse views and backgrounds--a true "uniter."

Highly recommend his latest book to get a better idea of the man. I wrote up a review here
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Old School Reviews

Hank, keep picking against my teams, please!!

[Bob A]

I am in the process of finsihing his second book right now. He is obviously a brilliant man but it remains to be seen how much he really knows about baseball...

[matt]

America will NOT vote for a black man to be POTUS. Someday it will happen, but not yet.

[TAP]

[matt]

I'm not saying that everyone is so outright racist, just that there are a lot of people who think they aren't but wouldn't want their kid to marry a black person.

Powell is a different case. He had that general thing to work.

I actually think it would be far easier for a black man to get elected running for teh GOP than the DEMs.

[whatuwant]

Chances are the Democratic candidate will be someone OTHER than Barack or Hillary...if you look at the last couple of major primaries, its always been a candidate that comes out of nowhere....

Howard Dean was a favorite, then Kerry and Edwards became the frontrunners; Bill Clinton was the same way; look for someone like Wes Clark or Bill Richardson (1st Mexican American president??) to come out on top; they were both vehemenently anti-war and both have good experience. (Clark as a joint Chief, and Richardson as UN rep)
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"He that speaks much, is much mistaken. " BF

[Dre]

I definitely think Obama's muslim roots and early upbringing will be his downfall. But hey, I'm a die hard Republican so that's fine by me.

[TAP]

[Bob A]

I worry about Obama for one reason. Not what he will do if he is elected but rather how he will handle the slings and arrows Rove and the Republicans will throw at him over the next 20 months or so, especially if he becomes the Democratic candidate.

He has never really been through an ugly campaign before. He moped the floor with Alan Keyes and didn't really have to get his hand dirty. Is he too nice a guy to go toe to toe with the opponents?

[moviegeekjn]

[Bob A]

Okay, so who IS the Democratic Karl Rove?

[EvilJuan]

My greatest concern with potential candidate (and so, potentially, President) Obama is -- what has he done? IIRC, he's a first-term Senator -- yes?

Like it or not -- like him or not -- at least Dubya was a two-term state governor. Believe me, I'm not here schilling (a little Diamondbacks baseball humor, that...) the Dubya administration. Heck, Clinton was also governor of Arkansas -- prob'ly 2 terms as well -- I simply don't remember.

I'd probably be more comfortable with the Obama candidacy if he got a bit more experience before running, and possibly being elected. He's young -- he's got time!
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Is It Next Season Yet?

[DesertKnight]

[tmar]

I think you could run "inexperience" as an asset if it were done right. My personal opinion is that the more time they spend in politics the more weighted down with favors they become and ergo less effective.

I believe I mentioned this before, but I think Hillary's people will destroy Obama.

[whatuwant]

[rgndvo]

I tried reading obama's second book but it was too phony for me. I went into it with high hopes cause I had liked what Id heard to that point.

As for his electability, I think he could do it depending on how the chips fall between now and then. We're going to have to pick between a woman, a hispanic, an african american or a republican. I wouldnt give better odds to one of the four over the other at this point.

[Counsell]

I think everyone will agree that the big issue in 2008 will almost certainly be foreign policy.

So anyone who is relatively inexperienced will obviously be operating under a tremendous disadvantage. An example of inexperience in that area being problematic was Jimmy Carter (who I voted for twice, sadly - I admit my mistakes), who was taken to the cleaners by both the Soviet Union (Afghanistan invasion) and Iran (hostage crisis).

I think right now Obama is sort of the "flavor of the month" and once people get a real picture of who he is RIGHT NOW they will back off due to his total lack of foreign policy experience. But he's probably a great choice for V.P. I know that's not how people are looking at it right now, but that will CHANGE.

It's not his youth - it's his inexperience. Clinton was young, but foreign policy was less important in '92 than in any other election going all the way back to the Depression. The same with Carter - Vietnam was over and the ONLY issue was integrity. Theodore Roosevelt and JFK were also young, but they were war heroes.

And then, ON TOP OF THAT, he's black and Muslim. Politically, that's a VERY steep uphill climb - to say the least.

But who else can do it? That's a tough question. Hillary can win the nomination, but not the general. That hasn't stopped the Democrats before, though! (i.e., McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry)

I think the most electable candidate in the general they have might be Richardson, but he's got a HUGE uphill climb to win the nomination.

So as it stands now, I predict another Democratic kamikazee mission - Hillary. Will Obama be her running mate? Maybe not, because: 1) They can't win anyway, because it's Hillary and he knows it; and 2) Running without at least one white man at the top of the ticket probably is not very realistic.

[qudjy1]

[moviegeekjn]

[David B]

[Counsell]

I voted for Kerry, but he had no chance. He did the best that he could have, from a vote-getting standpoint. It may sound trite, but he was just too liberal on the issues.

I think he ran an excellent campaign, the best he could possibly have run. Realistically, he got all the votes he could have gotten. Yes, he made a few mistakes, but all candidates make some mistake in every campaign. Bush also made some mistakes. But Kerry kept them to the absolute minimum. Kerry put his foot in his mouth a LOT more before he ran AND after he ran.

The Democrats need to nominate someone from the middle - or even better - from their right (which overall is middle or even left). They have not elected a liberal since FDR. Kennedy was considered a moderate, as was Clinton. Carter was considered to be between conservative and moderate. How they actually acted as President is a separate matter, from a practical standpoint.

[moviegeekjn]