I'm reading his new book, "The Audacity of Hope".

I hope he runs in 2008, regardless of his experience (which, by the way, is 3 terms in the Illinois House and one in the U.S. Senate). More mature at 45 years of age than most of the rest of the fossils in Washington. Best hope for a deeply divided country.

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The next President of the United States.

Really? You think that a country so in fear of rampaging gay homosexuals are willing to vote in an african american president? Or even a woman president for that matter?

I find it hard to imagine. But hope it will.

Yes. America votes charisma. Nixon was the only exception in the last 50 years. Unless you count 1988 where there wasn't a charismatic candidate in the field.

We like to pretend that there is precise split between 50% that are blue and 50% that are red. In fact, there is a large disinterested middle that votes on who makes them feel better in early November.

And even though it is anathema to many in this site, GWB is a charismatic figure especially in person.

q[GWB is a charismatic figure especially in person]q

Thats what everyone who meets him says, but he still didnt win an election. he cheated in 2.

"Really? You think that a country so in fear of rampaging gay homosexuals are willing to vote in an african american president? Or even a woman president for that matter?"

I think the that George Allen's campaign implosion in Virginia is a good example of the fact that America is ready. Virginia is by all accounts a southern state and Allen's popularity has fallen by quite a bit.

I am not sure for other reasons that Obama has what it takes, he has alienated the "net roots" by refusing to take highly progressive stances, and he will not be able to expect a free ride from them. I would like to see a Gore / Obama ticket, but failing that would rather see Obama as the front runner.

Also from a purely selfish and political perspective this would give the Democratic party huge inroads with minorities. Inroads that the republican party has tried to taken advantage of through Condolesa Rice and Gonzales. Although I think a lot of minorities see them for the Uncle Toms that they are, while Obama represents a man with real principle that at least as far as I can tell is not ready to reject his sense of purpose for purely personal goals.

In particular his speech in Kenya where he berated the government for slipping towards totalitarianism despite having enjoyed gifts on his visit more appropriate for visiting royalty is indicative of his capacity to "speak truth to power."

At any rate '08 is shaping up to be an interesting election year, and so far McCain appears to be the only real republican challenger, and he is running on a "not bush" yet still religious campaign that will hopefully fall on deaf ears as the conservative right continues to implode over republican ethics scandals.

If you are in the office acting in the role of the Decider, you won an election. Even if it is a cheat. The Republicans tore at their shirts and wailed and said the same things about cheating when Clinton beat Bush and Dole.

The Democrats are hungry for a victory and the "net roots" are vastly overrated other than serving as a perpetual noise machine. Of course, if "net roots savior" Ned Lamont prevails over Lieberman then I will eat these words.

You know a rock star when you see it. And Obama is a rock star. I think you can sell him in the South because he speaks very thoughtfully and clearly about faith and religion. Gore is the probably only person who could derail his candidacy if Obama decides to run. In any event, Obama should never accept a VP role.

"the "net roots" are vastly overrated"

I think they are underrated personally. The netroots has done a TON of free volunteer work this quarter, and that will no doubt continue to increase in future elections. Also they do a solid job of fund raising from people as opposed to lobbyists. Finally the recent programs enacted on mydd by chris bowers have been pretty sweet. By these I mean the "use it or lose it" campaign as well as his "google bomb initiative". While their long term results have yet to be proven it is interesting to see people using the internet in novel ways.

RE: Lamont, yeah I sincerely doubt that he's going to win that one. Which is a shame Lieberman is scum, but the consummate politician. Also if Lieberman had not been so strongly embraced by the White House, I don't think he would be winning this one.

I have not ONCE seen this "charisma" or "likability" Bush is supposed to possess.

The guy's always seemed fake and insecure to me when he's being "likable". Giving everyone you meet with on a regular basis a stupid nickname is desperation and awkwardness, not "charisma".

I really shouldn't throw overbroad rhetorical bombs out there. I do think that the "use it or lose it" and "google bomb" initiatives are valuable in that they invite the media to cover things that would not otherwise be covered.

"Net roots" may yield results in 10-15 years, but there were no real accomplishments in 2004 and it doesn't look like progressives will make a leap forward in 2006. If Dems prevail in a few days, I think that you will see wins from Dems who act like Republicans but do not act like religious nutjob Republicans (i.e. James Webb in VA; Ben Cardin in MD; Lieberman in CT; Tester in MT).

The problem is that affluent white men and women aged 18-29 (the core of the net roots movement) are predominantly urban and have little connection or feel for rural areas. Merely Dean-dropping the kids into Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and the West will always be a recipe for disaster.

The ideological progressive purity demanded by the Kos and his ilk will only ever yield that intensely great and beautiful man, Dennis Kucinich. It will not produce a person who can ever hope to be elected on a nationwide basis.

I was completely with you theo until I saw Bush in person. He really connects with his audience. Bush sucks on television, but he is great in those artificial Potemkin village settings.

Kerry, on the other hand, could not have been more of a windbag. His loss was upsetting, but not a surprise.

> Bush sucks on television, but he is great in those artificial Potemkin village settings.

Then how do you explain how he sucks on TV even when they are recording him in these Pokemon village settings?

Who replaces Bush isn't as important as replacing Bush...

Of course it is often overlooked that Tester and Webb are netroots endorsed candidates, and that the netroots were there for them before any of the national democratic action groups. The media bills the netroots as frothing at the mouth progressives, which it is to some extent. However, Kos and the other powers that be acknowledge that far left progressives have about as much of a chance of being elected in many states as bush does of admitting he has ever made a mistake. With this in mind they are the ones that are finding and supporting candidates in states that conventional wisdom says are steadfastly republican. While these candidates are less likely to vote the way that progressives want them to, they are an important part of having a majority in congress.

a quick search of dkos shows over 650,000 articles about tester, and I would be quick to remind you that tester lacked the support of the party apparatus during his primary, and won as a result of "people powered" politics driven by the netroots.

Also a similar plot line played out in Virginia where Webb lacked party support for his primary bid, but won anyway again through "people powered" politics. Also the fact that Webb is even in competition with Allen is a pretty strong indicator of the power of the internet. The macaca story would have gone no where without the likes of dkos, mydd, huffington post, and youtube.

I think the Lieberman / Lamont race might end up being decided by this late race problem that Lieberman is having concerning his petty cash fund. This certainly falls into your portrayal of the netroots as being a noise machine, but if they can get it to stick it could be a critical factor in the next two weeks.

rickegee, I've no doubt that I'd "connect with an audience" if I had the blind faith of a hand-picked conservative Christian zombie crowd, too.

Obama's main appeal to me is that the guy is actually thoughtful, which pretty much makes him the anti-Bush.

deathcow:

Bush's silly "town meeting" farces don't play back well on television in the same way that a pre-taped Broadway performance usually sucks. So many stage actors are amazing performers, but they just don't translate as well to film or television. Before seeing it, I wouldn't have believed that Bush fit in this category, but he is a very capable live performer.

James:

The interesting thing about Webb and Tester are that they were embraced by both the Kossacks and establishment bodies like Schumer and the DSCC. I don't really know if the chicken or the egg handpicked the candidates first. I know both are taking credit.

I do not for a moment question the power of the tubes as a communicative medium. In the end, though, the political utility of the net roots movement will be found in its ability to collect large $$$ contributions and to move the money quickly where it is needed.

theo:

The excerpts that I have read of the Obama book are really quite good. Let us know how it turns out.

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use that

this speech is today described in norwegian media as "the speech that made the world discover Obama"

rasch187 has fixed this video's dead embed code - no Power Points awarded because rasch187's points are already fully charged.

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