The Moderate Voice - Latest Comments in Dear Senator: When You’re President …

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

StockBoySF — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 13:06:18 -0000

Pete, great post, thanks! If Obama becomes prez I think he will take it slow. He's stood up for what he believed in the past and there's no reason to think he will change once he becomes prez. As far as I can tell Obama isn't in the pockets of big oil, big pharma, big banks, etc. He is able to make good (and right) decisions without being influenced by special interests.

domajot- welcome back! I was wondering where you've been. We've all missed you. I hope all is well with you.

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

domajot — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 11:50:30 -0000

Pete,
As usual, you've written a thoughtful post.

Affter mulling it over (I'm slow soemtimes) It'm now wondering if we're not looking at this through the wrong end of the binoculars. To wit, we evaluate a candidate's policies as 'fait acompli'. upon his election and forget to consider how much of them he could actually, possibly implement.

I was thinking about his health plan, for example. Though it is more modest than Hillary's and thus would be more likely to garner conservative support , how much of it would acutally be left after running the gamut of Wahsington politics?
The much maligned Hillary actually made a lot of sense in her comment about 'nibbling away' at an initial proposal until the primary goal is lost in toto.

On the one hand, I agree that radical policy swings cause havoc. On the other hand, I'm concerned that being overly cautious will cause lethal roadblocks to any change at all.

Too much seems to depend on Oabma's powers of persuation, his charisma, his personality. Those are all vitally important, of course., but for him to succeed in finding the right path between too much and too little will require a lot of the hope that he preaches.

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

kritt11 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:36:47 -0000

Also agree about Southern white Dems, but remember Obama initially did not have much black support either. Blacks either thought he wasn't "black enough" or thought Clinton was a safer bet for the nomination.

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

kritt11 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:32:05 -0000

I agree with Elrod that Obama will poll better against McCain once Hill concedes and the party reunites behind him, He has far better numbers in fund-raising, attracts huge crowds and has few negatives (other than the silly ones about madrassas, ties to Farrakhan,etc) The enthusiasm for McCain is just not there in the Republican Party.

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

Dennis Sanders — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:33:23 -0000

Pete, that was a GREAT post and sums up my thoughts. Good job, bud!

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

DLS — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:23:40 -0000

Obama Does Dollywood (literally, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge). I can see it now. He should do it during the height of the autumn tourist season when hordes want to visit the Smokies. Park your Winnebagos for a moment and listen up, everybody...

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

elrod — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:56:10 -0000

Don Quijote,
I lot of those poll numbers reflect inevitable sour grapes at the end of a tough primary campaign. It's for this reason that Clinton needs to concede after March 4 if she doesn't pull off a major victory in both Ohio and Texas. Obama WILL consolidate his Democratic base. But it will take some time. Liberals will come around. White female Democrats will come around.

There might be a core of racist white working class Democrats who won't come around - especially older ones. This is why I think it's important for Obama to campaign hard through Appalachia and the white South. I live in Southern Appalachia and I've seen how reflexive even some Democrats are here to the notion of a black candidate: they think he's Jesse Jackson. When told he's more like Bill Cosby on racial matters they give him a second look. I suspect that a trip through the region would help win over these white Democrats.

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

PaulSilver — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:01:29 -0000

Well done Pete. I share you same concerns.
So far it seems to me that Obama is a pragmatist and incrementalist. and has the rhetorical skills to convince the public that he is moving as fast as is prudent.

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

DLS — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:39:50 -0000

McCain's only strength is relative -- he's not a social conservative, the kind of politician who is too narrowly focused to appeal to a large number of voters, especially swing voters. He carries much baggage with him and is far from a substantial alternative to the Democratic candidates.

I don't see McCain being able to survive against Obama. Against Clinton, maybe, because Clinton has more negatives than McCain, by far. But even against Clinton McCain does not inspire confidence. To me this is going to be a Democratic year. I posted earlier a link to a Pew report -- it includes discussion of people's views of current events. Of 12 issues examined, the Dems have double-digit leads over the Republicans in nine of the cases.

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

Mike_P — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:28:15 -0000

I can't say for sure Obama will win against McCain, but I think the chances are better than even. When Obama and McCain debate, it'll be Kennedy v Nixon, all over again. The perception that Obama is short on substsnce as alluded to in Ross Douthat's post is just that - a perception issue, fairly easily overcome once the two compare their policies on stage, on the web, and in ads. Obama has been exceptionally effective in using Iraq to bludgeon Sen. Clinton on any number of unrelated issues (ie, judgement vs experience) and I see no reason that won't be the case against McCain as well.

McCain is almost certainly the strongest candidate Republicans could have chosen this year, though a big chunck of the party still can't see it. Clinton would have been the strongest on the Dem side as well - except for Obama. I think McCain is going to find it as difficult to campaign against Obama as Clinton has.

This is of course making a big assumption that Clinton loses on of the two big states in play Tuesday. If she gets both, that famous singer will have to remain backstage for a while.

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

DLS — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:07:01 -0000

"[T]he survey results point to several potential hazards for Obama. A solid majority of voters (56%) says Obama has not provided enough information about his plans and policies; in contrast, most voters say Clinton and McCain have disclosed enough information about their plans. Moreover, a plurality of voters (43%) says that Obama would not be "tough enough" in dealing with foreign policy and national security issues."

http://people-press.org/rep...

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

DLS — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:45:00 -0000

Run a surplus. Not a "projected" surplus, not a surplus including Social Security and Medicare revenues, but a real surplus. Also reduce spending and redirect some of the tax revenues to debt retirement. Do not introduce vast new taxation or regulation, the last thing this country needs and the last thing Americans want.

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

Don Quijote — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:38:58 -0000

Obama's Democrat Problem

Not only do Democratic defections nearly double in a McCain v. Obama race, but Obama loses a fifth of white Democrats to McCain, and he runs seventeen points behind Clinton among <$30K earners, reflecting continuing weakness with downscale voters. He loses 17 points among the quarter of Democrats who want to stay in Iraq, despite the fact that his and Clinton's positions on Iraq policy right now are virtually indistinguishable (apparently these people believe in Hillary's insincerity enough to know that she won't actually end the war), but he also loses five points compared to Clinton among those who want to bring our forces out of Iraq. He draws slightly less support from liberals and slightly more from conservatives than Clinton, which is rather baffling. Compared to Clinton, he also loses 14 points among Democratic women, which is a much larger figure of disgruntled women voters turning away from the Democrat and backing McCain than the three-point difference between Clinton and Obama among black Democratic voters. The story of the Clintons' permanently alienating black voters sounds good, but on the whole it doesn't seem to be true. Meanwhile, Obama's nomination definitely appears to alienate a lot of Democratic women, who perhaps resent the "upstart" (as he called himself the other day) taking Hillary's crown away from her.

Most remarkable of all is that Obama is weaker among Democrats in all age groups than Clinton. He is four points weaker, and McCain five points stronger, among Democratic voters aged 18-49 than in a Clinton v. McCain race. The losses are even greater among Democratic voters 50-64 and 65+. Democratic defections increase across income groups as well ... And those “Obamacans” we keep hearing about? They do exist, making up 8% of Republicans (three points higher than Clinton), but they are hardly the stuff of historic realignment and they are outnumbered almost two-to-one by “McCainocrats.”

Obama ain't in the White House yet, and I sriously doubt that he'll ever get there, once the whit working class realizes that he is African-American they will either sit on their hands or go vote for the Republican.

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

Kathryn — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:22:50 -0000

Pete, I can only add my total agreement with your post. Just like the Letter (which I signed) it completely describes my views. I am so glad that there are others in a similar position who shares these views

Re: Dear Senator: When You’re President …

Polimom — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:03:42 -0000

Pete, thank you so very much for this post. Your thoughts are nearly identical to my own, and I couldn't have said it better.