Who would you like to see as the next US President?

[Thunderbird]

It's a commonly held piece of wisdom that acknowledging your faults or sins is the first step in overcoming them. But not if the "you" is America itself. :hihi: Heaven help anyone who suggests that America was wrong in starting the Spanish-American War, or the Iraqi War, or in being polluting or fiscally unwise, or in holding onto ancient grudges (Cuba), or having too many folks in prison...

 

Do that, and you're ANTI-AMERICAN!!

 

I'd vote for a Clinton-Obama ticket. In fact, I don't care who's "on top" -- as long as they practice Safe Politics.

 

:evil:

 

I voted for Clinton, and then Gore, I hate Bush, as do most Americans.

 

I am a full time volunteer with AmeriCorps*VISTA, a pet program of Bill Clinton. My area of work involves helping ex-offenders reintegrate back into the community. The tide is turning my friend. We may have our tyrants, but so does every country at one time or another.

[REASON]

It's a commonly held piece of wisdom that acknowledging your faults or sins is the first step in overcoming them. But not if the "you" is America itself. :bwa: Heaven help anyone who suggests that America was wrong in starting the Spanish-American War, or the Iraqi War, or in being polluting or fiscally unwise, or in holding onto ancient grudges (Cuba), or having too many folks in prison...

 

Do that, and you're ANTI-AMERICAN!!

 

This is true, but dependent on the political party in power and it's willingness to play the patriotic card.

 

By today's standard, there was plenty of internal anti-Americanism during the Clinton and Carter years, for instance. The difference was, no one was suggesting that to criticize the President or American policies at home or abroad was unpatriotic at that time. I don't recall anyone suggesting that it was unpatriotic to criticize President Clinton's ordering of a missile strike on al Qaida training camps in Afghanistan as nothing more than a diversion from the Lewinsky scandal.

 

These days, patriotism has again become a wedge issue for Republicans, and they are using it in an attempt to shame people into supporting their policies, no matter how dysfunctional those policies are. Protecting their image, and therefore power, is more important than to admit any sort of failure and attempt to modify policies in an effort to yield positive results that are beneficial to our society.

 

A democratic government that attempts to sustain itself on myth and metaphor will eventually be unable to untangle itself from it's web of deceit and will find itself deposed by the will of the people it serves.

 

I believe this will be reflected in the elections this November.

[REASON]

Considering the comments and concerns that have been expressed about Barack Obama on this thread, I thought it would be good to post his recent speech, which I think is an excellent representation of his character and values as a presidential candidate.

 

In it, he addresses race relations in the US, past and present, and his vision of hope that we can learn to move beyond these perpetual problems and find common ground in a genuine effort to form a more perfect union. It is not intended to lay out his policies.

 

It's amazing to me to consider how inspiring someone can be that is capable of his level of eloquence, particularly considering what we've been enduring over the past seven years.

 

 

YouTube - Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union' (Full Speech) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo

[Thunderbird]

Reason, As a fellow Missourian What do you think the odds are if Obama gets the nod that he will select Clair MCcaskill as a running mate.

[REASON]

Reason, As a fellow Missourian What do you think the odds are if Obama gets the nod that he will select Clair MCcaskill as a running mate.

 

I like Claire. I voted for her. I watched the clip you posted of her interview with Bill Maher. I was surprised I hadn't already seen it since I always watch Real Time.

 

I think she would make a very interesting running mate. While she was just elected to the Senate in 2006, she like Obama doesn't have a lot of experience at the federal level. This could be portrayed as a weakness like they are suggesting with Obama, but considering the level of corruption that exists in federal government, not having been there for a long time may actually be a benefit. She has a lot of local experience here in Missouri having won her first seat in the Missouri Legislature in 1982, so I definitely think she is capable.

 

It could very well be prescient on your part.

[pgrmdave]

I'll be honest - I like all the current candidates. John McCain bothered me a bit by playing to the Republican base, but hopefully, if he gets elected, he'll become his old self again, bane of the Republicans and voice of moderate reason. Hillary Clinton is a great politician. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing...

 

But Barack Obama is inspiring. He won't really change governmental things more than Clinton would, but he'll inspire the American people, which is much, much more important. It's like the economy. If people are confident that the economy is going to do well, then they will invest more, and help the economy do well. It has less to do with the trust of it and more to do with the perception. I believe that Obama will help make people want to make America a better place, whereas Clinton will make people want her to make it a better place.

[goku]

move this nation forward they say, and to where i wonder.

what if we moved back? back to kids bringing guns to school because they wanted to go hunting afterwards. back to not needing so many laws because people did the right thing.

and what makes people do the right thing? does evolution teach right and wrong?

 

 

back i say, back to the good ole days.

[GeneralMotors]

Too bad arnie isn't there :)

[REASON]

back i say, back to the good ole days.

 

Aren't you about 30 years old? For you, the "good ole days" were the mid 80's. ;) You must be thinking about someone else's notion of the "good ole days."

 

Maybe we could go back to the good ole days before the Civil Rights Act, or the good ole days of segregation, or the depression, or before women had the right to vote, or before the Emancipation Proclamation. Yeah, there's nothin' like those good ole days of Puritanism and the Salem Witch Trials. Hey, we could go back to the days of English rule, or beheadings in the public square. :)

 

Nah. Let's keep moving forward toward a "more perfect union."

 

But I get the gist of what you're saying. Honor, integrity, commitment, ethics, honesty and consideration seem to be values that more and more are lacking in our society, and therefore government, today. I yearn for those things as well. But I don't think we need to go backward to reclaim them. They have to be instilled in future generations.

[DougF]

REASON

Nah. Let's keep moving forward toward a "more perfect union."

 

But I get the gist of what you're saying. Honor' date=' integrity, commitment, ethics, honesty and consideration seem to be values that more and more are lacking in our society, and therefore government, today. I yearn for those things as well. But I don't think we need to go backward to reclaim them. They have to be instilled in future generations. [/quote']

I have to agree we have lost or misplaced a lot of the values in our society, I can only hope they are misplaced and not lost,

Although back in the day we used to be able to out side and play all day,

and the only this you had to worie about was making it home before the street lights came on.

[InfiniteNow]

I have to agree we have lost or misplaced a lot of the values in our society, I can only hope they are misplaced and not lost

 

 

 

YouTube - Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

[Tolouse]

Obama

[Southtown]

Considering the comments and concerns that have been expressed about Barack Obama on this thread, I thought it would be good to post his recent speech, which I think is an excellent representation of his character and values as a presidential candidate.

 

In it, he addresses race relations in the US, past and present, and his vision of hope that we can learn to move beyond these perpetual problems and find common ground in a genuine effort to form a more perfect union.

...

It is not intended to lay out his policies.

ROFL! What is pray tell?

 

It's amazing to me to consider how inspiring someone can be that is capable of his level of eloquence, particularly considering what we've been enduring over the past seven years.

Whatever. Barack set that whole Wright thing up for the libs then denied it for the cons. Bet me.

[InfiniteNow]

...

 

ROFL! What is pray tell?

 

 

Whatever. Barack set that whole Wright thing up for the libs then denied it for the cons. Bet me.

 

Southtown,

 

WTF does your response even mean? Are you perchance trying to illustrate the missing level of eloquence we've been experiencing? Are you perchance regurgitating some nonsense you heard from a relatively uninformed social leader in your world? Are you perchance unecessarily holding on to a failed past in fear of a better future? Are you presenting some completely unfounded biased conjecture as if it were some fact? (I personally think it's that last one, but...)

 

I just don't know.

 

 

WTF does your response even mean?

[REASON]

...

 

ROFL! What is pray tell?

 

 

Whatever. Barack set that whole Wright thing up for the libs then denied it for the cons. Bet me.

 

What a pathetic notion. :evil:

 

One you have absolutely no way to verify.

 

Obviously, perpetuating partisanship are your ways. That sure wasn't the message I was getting from my minister father.

 

Hope it's workin' for ya.

[Southtown]

I didn't present anything as facts, and my conjecture is entirely reasonable. Disagree if you wish. I don't care.

1. Barack has to agree with his preacher, otherwise he would not have attended for 20+ years.
2. If Barack does not agree with his preacher but continues to attend because they're close friends, then Barack holds his chums higher than his own principles, making him perfect for politics.
3. Regardless, Barack had to have known that his preacher of 20+ years could come under scrutiny during a presidential campaign.
4. The timing of the Wright controversy happens to coincide with a neck-and-neck battle for the Democratic Primary.
5. The kind of people who would agree with Wright are at least staunch Democrats, possibly radically leftist.
6. That the whole incident looked like an accident with an immediate, yet vague, apology leaves room for the Wright types to suspect that Barack is on their side while also not offending the conservative vote, except of course those radical righties who think a person should either agree with his preacher or change churches.

Pardon me if I can't quite bring myself to believe that this isn't just a little too convenient.

[Moontanman]

I'd like to see me as the next prez, how could I do any worse? Just maybe a little common sense and no special interests would be better?