Reply #2: Penn is obviously more of a backroom type.

[Apollo11]

People who have read my posts here on DU know that I am not a cheerleader for the Clinton campaign.

But I think it was absolutely fair for Clinton's campaign to bring up the fact that Obama had already thought about wanting to become President while he was still a child.

The only reason they mentioned it is because Obama had been making a big deal about it in his public speeches. He was saying that he has not been planning to run for President for a long time, implying that certain other candidates (meaning Hillary) having been planning for this their whole lives. Whether it is true or not - it has NOTHING to do with whether or not Hillary should be the nominee in 2008.

I like Obama a lot. But I really hate it when he decides to highlight these irrelevant issues like who has been thinking about running for President the longest.

Then you wind up getting stuck in a pointless discussion about people's past private thoughts and the semantic difference between words like imagining, thinking, considering and planning.