Iowa Watching Party

[6thGen]

His persona, his history (though I have only gotten through a few chapters of "Dreams from my Father" so you could probably say that as a parent of three, I find sleep more fascinating most days than anything about politics). Is he seasoned? No. Might he be the right person at the right time? Maybe.

I am not going to get in a lengthy point by point debate with you 6thgen. Find someone else. I am not an Obama supporter (yet) though since I am a registered Democrat I can say for certain that I will be voting for him in the Florida primary. Beyond that, I just want to see how things unfold.

I meant his platform, or even voting record, not how great of a public speaker he is or what life experiences he's had. I'm not being an ass, just seriously curious.

 

[CPort]

For those of us that are really old, we can remember many, many political campaigns, essentially all of which cite "Change" as their mantra.

Problem is, one person (president or not) has little impact on a monster as big as the US government and all the special interest groups that surround and (for the most part) control it.

Kind of like an ant trying to move a mountain

Obama reminds me of JFK in some ways, particularly his effect on the young.

Very true
I've followed political campaigns since I was in elementary school. My parents were very involved. I loved election night back then.In fact yesterday I found a campaign card from 1959 where I stood on Main St in Hattiesburg,Ms handing them out! I remember that so clearly.
Sorry to get off subject

 

[seaside2]

SEASIDE 2

I was just about to post the same thought that Obama reminded me of JFK. The torch being past to a new generation of Americans. JFK made some profound changes in direction : Civil rights, Voting rights ( ably stewarded into law by LBJ ) and the peace corp as well as the challenge to explore the heavens. It is a different world now with different challenges. Even though I am a McCain supporter, I am truly inspired by Obama. I hope God keeps him safe on the campaign trail.....there are so many nuts out there !!!

Don't get me started on the BS waste of tons of $. While there have been a few things good come out of it (Tang, others), the money and brain power spent could have brought us ssssooooo much closer to energy independence that it isn't even funny.

Got to go now and put another $45 in the black stallion's 15 gallon tank.

 

[Mango]

It shouldn't be at all surprising that those in their 60s are supporting him. If you honestly look at his platform, his "change" is repackaged and mostly failed ideas from the 60's, when this group was becoming politically active. Further, there's just enough white guilt with that age group to pull the lever strictly because of a candidate's race. Obama! gives them the perfect opportunity, and add in the fact that he's the best communicator on either ballot, and very electable, it's a no brainer.

I think it's an insult to the American peoples intellect to even insinuate that their support of a candidate has anything to do with race guilt especially now with such pressing issues facing this country. You can't even begin to support that statement since Obama garnered support from just about every age group, whereas Clinton's largest group of supporters was the over 65 age group. The idea is so ludicrous that we can then say that anyone who voted for Clinton was senile.

Besides, 60 is the new 50.

 

[hnooe]

For those of us that are really old, we can remember many, many political campaigns, essentially all of which cite "Change" as their mantra.

Problem is, one person (president or not) has little impact on a monster as big as the US government and all the special interest groups that surround and (for the most part) control it.

Kind of like an ant trying to move a mountain

Obama reminds me of JFK in some ways, particularly his effect on the young.

Seaside, I agree with the Kennedy analogy, but my view most Americans seem to have short sided goals for their elected Presidents. They want change only from the persepective of what the last administration did or did not do while in office, i.e., Bush Sr. screwed up the economy ("the economy, stupid") so we then went with Bill Clinton: then, Clinton "screwed up" with Monica inside the oval office, so we yearned for a "moral" candidate, thus, Bush Jr. (or so we thought); Bush Junior set us back 8 years by exascerbating most of the problems we see today because he was the only "The Decider" (oil dilemma, global warming issue, alienating friend and foe, getting us nowhere on border security, etc):

Now with both Huckabee and Obama we yearn for a communicator, a D.C outsider, a listener.....
We always want what we now don't have currently have in the White House.

 

[Jdarg]

Question---and there is probably a logical answer to this.

What happens to leftover campaign money? This came up last night. These candidates raise a serious amount of cash. Do they give it back to the donors? What happens to it if the candidate wins or loses?

 

[tistheseason]

Question---and there is probably a logical answer to this.

What happens to leftover campaign money? This came up last night. These candidates raise a serious amount of cash. Do they give it back to the donors? What happens to it if the candidate wins or loses?

What leftover campaign money? Why do you think they throw big election night parties. . . .win or loose . . . .you have to blow through the $$$!

 

[peapod1980]

I meant his platform, or even voting record, not how great of a public speaker he is or what life experiences he's had. I'm not being an ass, just seriously curious.

You didn't ask me, but the thing that impressed me about Obama from early on was his seemingly big, fat brain.
I live in Illinois, so he's been newsworthy here for some time. It may be a simplistic, shallow assessment I'm making, but I've always thought he comes across as plain ol' smart, and that makes a difference to me.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Question---and there is probably a logical answer to this.

What happens to leftover campaign money? This came up last night. These candidates raise a serious amount of cash. Do they give it back to the donors? What happens to it if the candidate wins or loses?

It depends. For those, like Romney, who wrote checks (loan to self) for their campaign expenses, they can reimburse their personal accounts from which the "loan" came. Otherwise, they can put it to use in another run for something in the future. I'd guess that they might also be able to donate the change, after the parties, to their political party. I've never heard of a politician giving money back to the people.

 

[Smiling JOe]

I think it's an insult to the American peoples intellect to even insinuate that their support of a candidate has anything to do with race guilt especially now with such pressing issues facing this country. You can't even begin to support that statement since Obama garnered support from just about every age group, whereas Clinton's largest group of supporters was the over 65 age group. The idea is so ludicrous that we can then say that anyone who voted for Clinton was senile.

Besides, 60 is the new 50.

I said this last night and do feel that the American "intellect" is indeed an insult, and many will vote for Sen Obama out of racial guilt. Many others will do so for other reasons. I think the people who are actually discussing topics such as this are much more intelligent than the average American. I can assure you that last night, there were as many people in the US watching models on TV open brief cases with dollar amounts in them, as there were people who were actually trying to learn about our poliTRICKal system.