WP, pg1: Obama Has Dems Taking Notice: Senator Mentioned as '08 Contender

[DeepModem Mom]

Obama's Profile Has Democrats Taking Notice
Popular Senator Is Mentioned as 2008 Contender
By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 18, 2006; Page A01

EAST ORANGE, N.J. -- Barack Obama was standing before a packed high school auditorium when he noticed a familiar face in the crowd -- none other than singer Dionne Warwick. He paused, flashed a mischievous smile, then let loose with a perfectly on-key performance of the opening line of her hit song "Walk On By."

The audience of 300 students and adults roared with approval.

Obama, a first-term Democratic senator from Illinois, seems to be hitting the right notes these days. During Senate recesses, he has been touring the country at breakneck pace, basking in the sudden fame of a politician turned pop star. Along the way, he has been drawing crowds and campaign cash from Democrats starved for a fresh face and ready to cheer what Obama touts as "a politics of hope instead of a politics of fear."

His office fields more than 300 requests a week for appearances. One Senate Democrat, curious about Obama's charisma, took notes when watching him perform at a recent political event. State parties report breaking fundraising records when Obama is the speaker.

The money he is bringing in for fellow Democrats is shaping up as an important influence on 2006. And the potential Obama is demonstrating as a political performer -- less than two years after his elevation from the Illinois state legislature -- is prompting some colleagues to urge him to turn his attention to 2008 and a race for the presidency. Obama has made plain he is at least listening....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/17/AR2006061700736_pf.html

[wtmusic]

1. Whatever he touts, he practices the politics of appeasement

Not interested

[struggle4progress]

2. Obama won't be ready for primetime by 08

[xchrom]

3. doesn't have my attention.

[SmokingJacket]

4. There are only a couple people better, at this point.

Feingold and Edwards, for two. I think Obama's been too DLC-y, BUT he's a wonderful speaker, and a democrat, and a lovely looking person, and it's about time for a black guy. How about running mate, to start?

You know, after Bush, we can't get TOO PICKY. Obama pissed me off with voting for bankruptcy reform, etc., but considering where we are? Like, in hell? President Obama would be like being in heaven, relatively speaking. So would President Charles Schumer or ANY democrat, but frankly, most of our democrats are are about as interesting and vital as wet toast.

Obama's an imperfect democrat BUT a stunning candidate, IMHO.

[Sherman A1]

7. I would

like to see Feingold and Obama as a ticket. But, then you have the both being Senators thing which seems to rarely work and I don't know if they could get the nod. Oh, well.....

[Placebo]

5. Obama for President!

Now—before he gets corrupted by the DC establishment.

We'd hate to lose him here in Illinois, but the country could sure use him.

[snappyturtle]

8. Yes!

Obama not only has my attention but my vote if he is a national candidate. As for HIS readiness: I think that's not a question but are we ready for him? I'm not always pleased with his votes but he's dynamic and has the charisma and empathy for the common man that I believe this country hungers for!

[Cha]

6. David Sirota did

an interesting article on Obama in The Nation's June 26th issue..

"Mr. Obama Goes to Washington"

Snips~

"Obama was calling because he was bothered that I had written a few blog posts questioning positions he'd taken that appeared to belie his progressive image, most prominently his vote for a corporate-written "reform" of class-action lawsuits, his refusal to frontally challenge the Iraq War after running as an antiwar candidate and his vote to confirm Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State. One by one, Obama methodically answered each criticism. And when the call ended with his telling me he was committed to working with progressives, I was perplexed. Obama certainly talks a great game--but then, so have many false prophets over the years. I requested a formal interview, and to my surprise, Obama readily agreed. By the end of a day in Washington with him, I had the answers to two key questions: What can progressives expect from Barack Obama, and what does he really aspire to be?"

Another area of retreat and equivocation for Obama is his role in party politics. He had previously said he didn't "want to be the kingmaker," because "it's never been sort of a role that I've aspired to in politics." Yet Obama forcefully intervened in a suburban Chicago Congressional primary on behalf of Iraq veteran Tammy Duckworth, the candidate handpicked by Democratic power brokers, against grassroots contender Christine Cegelis, who in 2004 garnered an astonishing 44 percent against GOP incumbent Henry Hyde and who almost beat Duckworth. Wasn't this the very kingmaking role he'd said he didn't want to be a part of? Obama said only, "There are going to be strategic questions about who do I think is best equipped to win the general elections." One senior Congressional aide said, "Obama showed himself to be the pure political hack he is. Here you have a guy whose own success was predicated on winning primaries against party-backed candidates now using his enormous political capital to go to bat for the same party machines he says he doesn't want to be a tool of."

Although Obama said such high-profile primary endorsements were rare, a similar controversy arose a few weeks later. Just as Ned Lamont's antiwar primary campaign against prowar Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman was gaining momentum, Obama traveled to the state to endorse Lieberman. Like the Duckworth endorsement, Obama's move was timed to derail an insurgent, grassroots candidate. To progressives this may seem surprising, given Obama's progressive image. But remember, according to the New York Times it is Lieberman--one of the most conservative, prowar Democrats in Washington--who is "Obama's mentor in the Senate as part of a program in which freshman senators are paired with incumbents."

Poor thing has joehadist as his mentor!


http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060626/sirota

[Jim Sagle]

11. Joebama? No, thanks.

[Cha]

12. OMG!

"joebama"!

[Pirate Smile]

9. He'll be on the very short list for VP.

[EST]

10. I supported Obama fer senator.

I gave money, talked him up, make calls, on and on.
I voted for him and corralled many other votes for him--for senator, NOT for him as space-holder-in-waiting for a presidential nod from those same inimical forces who have been, in large measure, responsible for our present unhappy contretemps.

No, I am definitely unhappy at the notion of Obama for national executive head. He owes us, the voters and workers, a couple of terms as senator, both to get his feet on the ground and to establish a record of the good and the bad his choices have wrought, as well as to demonstrate the principle of government by and for the people.
I am totally sick and tired of this happy gasping every time the thugs and corporate establishment types try to pick our candidates for us.

If anything, this crap will make me more hardened against their choices than I might otherwise be.

[Vidar]

13. Maybe he'll be hawking Ms. Warwick Psychic Hotline next.