<$BlogRSDUrl$>                                                                                                                                                                   
The Third Estate
What Is The Third Estate?
 Everything
What Has It Been Until Now In The Political Order?
Nothing
What Does It Want To Be?
Something

Obama Watch

Monday, August 07, 2006
So I still don't think that Barack Obama is running for President. But.....

He is in Iowa right now.

He has been travelling all over the country fundraising for Democrats.

And yesterday I saw an interview with Dick Durbin, the other Senator from Illinois, in which he practically begged Obama to run.

My guess is that Obama will make the calculation that his comparative inexperience and the frontrunner position held by Hillary, as well as the CW that McCain is unbeatable in 08, will cause him to sit this race out.

I think this would be a mistake, however. Senate experience frequently dooms prospective Presidential candidates. I also think that Obama would defeat Hillary in the primaries. He would rally the left against her (a left that is desperate for an anti-Hillary), and would deprive her of the key constituency she is counting on to win the nomination: black voters. I also think that there is an inverse relationship between McCain's ability to get the Republican nomination and his ability to win the general election.

You know what? Never mind. It's just way too early for this stuff. Let's take back the Congress first, shall we? Then we can launch investigations, expose all their misdeeds, and discredit the Republican party so much that whoever we nominate will win.

Edit: Brazen Hussy has asked me not to use abbreviations like "CW," which I thought was common knowledge but she didn't know and thought was lazy when I explained it. It means "conventional wisdom."
Posted by Arbitrista @ 7:08 AM
12 Comments:
  • Look, if you want to be obnoxious and use a lot of jargon, that's your business, but I thought you liked it when readers understood what the hell you were talking about.

    By Blogger Dr. Brazen Hussy, at 7:33 AM  
  • Woah, sorry. I really thought it was something people knew!

    By Blogger Arbitrista, at 7:34 AM  
  • Well, obviously if I didn't know what it meant, then it's not worth knowing.

    By Blogger Dr. Brazen Hussy, at 7:35 AM  
  • I'm not going to respond to that. I like being married.

    By Blogger Arbitrista, at 7:36 AM  
  • If anyone is still reading this nonsense, I'd like to point out that we are sitting in the same room.

    By Blogger Dr. Brazen Hussy, at 7:36 AM  
  • You just have to have the last word, don't you?

    By Blogger Arbitrista, at 7:36 AM  
  • YES.

    By Blogger Dr. Brazen Hussy, at 7:37 AM  
  • This is what I have to live with.

    By Blogger Arbitrista, at 7:38 AM  
  • Yep.

    By Blogger Dr. Brazen Hussy, at 7:38 AM  
  • Have you two thought about taking your act on the road? I'm still laughing!

    Anyway, do you think "the country" is "ready" for a dark-skinned candidate let alone prez? I honestly don't know enough about Mr. Obama, but, if he were the best choice, I wouldn't care if he was green with pink stripes. But, I'm just wondering, with all the big white pigs sitting around deciding who gets to live in the House, do you honestly think they will allow Mr. Obama to get a nomination?

    I'm going to have to do more research on this man.

    p.s. I had no idea what CW meant. But, you may not know what STE stands for, either (Simplified Technical English).

    Now, go give Hussy a kiss.

    By Blogger Penguin, at 8:42 AM  
  • Mommy and Daddy, please stop fighting. It scares the children.

    I love love love Obama. I honestly do not think at all that his race/ethnicity would affect his bid. He is being touted in all the press as a golden child - and he is being very strategic about his image. He is an incredible speaker and comes across as very intelligent and thoughtful. That said, I adore Hilary and would have a hard time choosing between them.

    Interestingly, in this month's Marie Claire (yes, a fashion mag), both he and Hilary appear in a spread.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 10:20 AM  
  • Most of the people who would definitely vote against someone just because he was black isn't going to vote for ANY Democrat.

    A black candidate does have handicaps, of course. A candidate isn't going to win as the "black candidate" - just look at Jesse Jackson. But Obama is a candidate who happens to be black, much like JFK was a candidate who happened to be Catholic.

    Obama has the opportunity to mobilize blacks in a very profound way for the next election. I also think he can use his race as a rhetorical issue, framing it as a question of tolerance. Again, JFK did this in 1960.

    I like Obama for a lot of reasons. He has an amazing ability to enunciate the liberal message. I also think that his election would do a great deal to improve race relations in this country.

    By Blogger Arbitrista, at 10:47 AM  
Post a Comment
<< Home

:: permalink