I was taken by how Gary Hart (former presidential candidate) describes Obama's candidacy for the same position: By Gary Hart Source: Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/politics-as-transcendence_b_86490.html Only once in a very long time does politics become more than politics, that is something more than partisan struggle, vote bartering, or arena of ambition. In ordinary times, ordinary political leaders suffice, more or less. But on rare occasion, old arrangements and conventional wisdom come unstuck. This happens in periods of rapid if not revolutionary change. We find ourselves now in one of those periods. The forces of globalization, information, eroding sovereignties, and transformation of war ensure that traditional leaders and conventional politics can only muddle through at best and fail badly at worst. But periods of upheaval also offer opportunities, opportunities to change our methods, our ideas, and our leaders. The rare leader capable of transforming threat to opportunity is one who welcomes transformation and sees it as a chance to abandon tradition and convention, to transcend that which is stale, unprofitable, and ineffective. Periods of transformation require experimentation, innovation, and daring. America is a nation much more conservative than it thinks itself to be. Thus, its default position is to resist a forward leap even while applauding itself for its creativity. Al Capone said it best: "We don't want no trouble." But transformation is trouble in the best sense of the word, trouble that causes us to adapt to new conditions and circumstances and create new ways of governing. Through some miracle of timing, luck, and good fortune Barack Obama has seized the moment. His mantra of "change" has been largely co-opted by lesser figures. He is in fact an agent of transformation. He is not operating on the same plane as ordinary politicians, and this makes him seem elusive to the conventional press and the traditional politicians. His instinct for the moment and the times is orders of magnitude more powerful than the experience claimed by others. Experience in the old ways is irrelevant experience. In an age of great transformation, experience of the past is worthless because it is a barrier to the breakthrough gesture, the instant response in crisis, the instinctive bold decision in the face of totally new circumstances. Some see Barack Obama as the long awaited champion finally come to slay the awful dragon of race. And they are right. Some see him as a new start for the Democratic Party and national politics. And they are right. Some see him as the walking embodiment of internationalism, ready to restore an honorable and respected place for America in the world. And they are right. I see Barack Obama as a leader for this transcendent moment, the agent of transformation in an age of revolution, as a figure uniquely qualified to open the door to the 21st century and to convert threat to great new opportunity.
I've been saying this about Obama for awhile. If I said something like what you just said a week ago skip. i would have been fired at from all angles and told what a piece of trash obama was, and what a true American hero Paul was and how i was a sheeple for buying into the dems record of nonviolence and logical thought.
Well Obama is all we got now. And he's NOT a bad choice at all. Once I started seeing who came out supporting Obama, it made me realize that with all the liberals behind him, he can't fuck them all over cause they'll be on his case from day one to make sure he lives up to his promises. Plus with his amazing momentum, he's pretty much unstoppable now. He is really winning ppl over with his speeches. My only worry is he may not live to take office. There are too many fucked up agencies and individuals who don't want to see a black man as president, who don't want a liberal as president, who don't want someone named Barack Hussein Obama as President, who want to continue the wars in the Middle East until every drop of Oil goes to American oil companies. Those are some powerful entities and with the HUNDREDS of BILLIONS in oil profits to be had by stealing it from weaker countries, ONE MAN, cannot stand in the way of that! Or can he? And there are so many conservatives and professional political hacks who don't want ANY change much less a political revolution such as Obama is promising. So those who keep the Status Quo will likely do whatever they have to, to ensure Obama doesn't rock the boat. Let's hope the Secret Service does their job and Obama lives to take office and turn this country around. If not, then it's time for REVOLUTION! The day Obama is gone, is the day to end our misery, because then there will be NO MORE HOPE for America... And if it happens they'll blame terrorists (that's how it will be portrayed in the media). But the truth would be very different. Just like JFK, RFK, Dr. King, Anthrax, etc. In fact it will be the SAME group that does that as did the Anthrax attacks: Secret Neocon Agents acting upon Dick Cheney's orders. We are being setup for that exact scenario now. A terror attack takes out our next president, they blame IRAN, and then it's bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, with McCain in the cockpit!
You weren't around when Kennedy was president. Therefore you have only seen bullshit presidents. I'm not saying Obama will live up to all he promises, but at this point ANY change would be an improvement. And indeed Obama is talking like Kennedy (with the same speech writer, too). Kennedy inspired this nation more than any other person in my lifetime, except Bobby Kennedy, who was assassinated the very MOMENT it was certain he would win the nomination. Too bad you missed seeing and hearing the Kennedys when they were alive. They make Reagan look like SATAN in comparison. I too would like to abolish government. But that's so unlikely to happen at this point, unless of course Obama is assassinated. Then it's time for Anarchy...
The only reason I would ever vote for Obama is because I would never vote for Hillary. Ask yourself this question: "Who do you want to see on TV the next 4 years telling us what a mess we're in ?" At least Obama is a minority. As a black man, this makes him aware of a segment of the population that the Clintons have been far removed from for decades. If he will scale back military spending and put money into the infrastructure of this country, he might work. If he doesn't/can't, then he's just just another talking head who will take his orders from the same people who have controlled Washington since the 1950's. x
I look at it this way. He is a member of the CFR (so is Hillary and McCain), his foreign policy advisor is Zbigniew Brzezinski, and the CFR, corporate-controlled media is pushing him hard sell. It's obvious he's been groomed and vetted by the establishment, but when haven't they been? It's the same story every time, and it's no different this time. Now Obama is pushing a UN global tax bill that will cost US taxpayers $845 billion dollars over 13 years, on top of what we are already spending on wars for imperial conquest. I trust this guy about as far as I can throw him, and I am not looking at him to stop the war, either. After all, we have heard his saber-rattling about going after Pakistan.
And if Obama gets assassinated, will you still claim he was a tool of the establishment, Rat? It would just be another in your endless string of contradictions.
Anything's better than what we've got now...'cept maybe McCain, who's probably just as bad... I voted for Obama, and he won our state by a narrow margin. He's certainly generated a lot of momentum, mobilized a lot of people to vote, and he's inspired a spirit of revolution among the American people, which is more than I can say about the others. It's high time we had a viable candidate for a change. We won't know if he's a corporate puppet like the rest until he gets in office. Until then, I remain optimistic.
Well I agree that he appears to be a typical politician when it come to serving the corporations. Unlike John Edwards, he hasn't made curbing corporate influence his agenda. However, there is a LOT more going on here with Obama than is typical of an election cycle. This "movement" that is growing around him has a momentum of its own. While it currently coalesces around him as a candidate, it may have a life of its own. That's one reason I'm predicting a revolution if anything bad happens to him. Another factor to consider is sometimes circumstances make the man. So Obama may have just been another corporate lackey at some point in his career, but now events have gone far beyond whatever plans he may have had, or whatever masters he may owe favors to. If Obama can RISE to the occassion, he can BECOME more than just a politician. He can become a REVOLUTIONARY! That is the essence of what Gary Hart's article is saying. So Obama may have been wallowing in the filthy muck of the Chicago political machine, but now the LIBERAL TIDE has come in and lifted him out of that, and is taking him on a NEW COURSE that remains uncharted... And given all the NEW POWERS that Bushit and Cheney have given themselves, Obama can institute a revolution in American politics unlike any seen before. My god, we have the INTERNET now, and besides its growing influence on elections, it also is the most logical way to vote in the future. We must DUMP this PARTY MACHINE politics and start DIRECT DEMOCRACY. No more two party system, no more superdelegates, no more electoral college. All this MUST CHANGE if America is to have a democratic future. We must also dump all those politicians who got elected in the last cycle who didn't live up to their promises. First to go is Pelosi!
@ Rat Who do you reckon we vote for then? @ All Obama '08 baby! By far the candidate that has been holding ground to his morals since he began running. Hilary has swayed with public opinion, starting as a liberal, then conservative, and now back to liberal. She's a hack, a people pleaser. Obama is ready to make a change, atleast I hope so this time. If Obama is just another let down I don't think America will respond nicely, so it would be best if he wasn't. Huckabee is a lunatic, he actually wishes to mix Church and State. Something the 1ST AMENDMENT clearly prohibited us from doing. He actually believes the Earth is 9 thousand years old, lol. Don't even get me started with McCain.............. Although a vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil, hopefully this will bring about some good. On the other hand, lets say Obama gets assassinated or ends up being a pawn, maybe it will be good for Americans in the long run? Unfortunately, it's looking like we're going to have some Calamity strike before people actually begin becoming politically aware and start caring. Namaste, John.
I don't recommend you vote for anybody because they always give you the choice of Coke vs. Pepsi. I don't play that game. Instead, I work to inform people so they can work to find a solution from OUTSIDE of the system. I am not telling you not to vote, I am simply telling you that I don't vote because it's a complete SHAM. People will continue to parrot all this empty rhetoric about so-called "change" that's been downloaded into them by the media, but what change are we talking about? I don't see any change coming from another establishment yes-man like Barack Obama. These people do what they're told by their handlers, and we know these handlers never leave office, no matter who is propped up for the public's eyes.
Rat you are a sad man. You enourage people not to vote, you talk about a whole mess of conspiracy theories, you are a cynic in every sense, and you don't offer any alternative means to change. I say that certainly no candidate we have now is the best man/woman for the job. And, to varying degrees, all candidates are influenced by private interests. That being said, there is a HUGE difference between the Republican and Democratic platforms and what they stand for, and I am supporting Barack Obama for president. What we NEED is campaign finance reform.
But did I tell anyone not to vote? No, I specifically said that I WASN'T telling anyone not to vote. I was asked who I would recommend people vote for and I gave my answer. Don't like it? Too bad. If you or anyone else wants to vote for Obama, who's stopping you? I'm not.
Yes, but of course when you first say "I reccomend you dont vote for anyone" and then in the same paragraph say you are not enouraging people not to vote, I dont know which statement to believe! I'm not all heated about the fact that YOU won't be voting, I merely said you were a sad man, and I do believe that.
Learn how to read. I said "I don't recommend you vote for anyone." This means I have no recommendation of who to vote for. You either conveniently twisted what I said, or you simply just don't know how to read because I never said "I recommend you don't vote." There's a very big difference between the two statements, and you misquoted what I wrote.
Rat is someone who used to sit around on the sofa, drink beer, and generally do fuck all. Then one day he discovered a cult which told him that by sitting around on the sofa, drinking beer and generally doing fuck all he was among the most poltically advanced minds on the planet, and by doing so he was fighting against the greatest conspiracy in history which is destined to destroy the world as we know it and enslave humanity. Pass me another beer, can I join?
What do you know about me? Nothing! All you do is come here and troll, and for whatever reason the moderators of this website continue to let you get away with things other people would not. We know what you think about other people's views, so why don't you try telling us your own. You come here and attack liberals and non-liberals alike, so what exactly is your bag, other than likely being a government op? All one has to do is type in your screen name to Google and they will come up with at least a half dozen "conspiracy" websites where all you do is troll people. Are you really that pathetic, or are you just well-paid?
"Huckabee is a lunatic, he actually wishes to mix Church and State. Something the 1ST AMENDMENT clearly prohibited us from doing. He actually believes the Earth is 9 thousand years old, lol" Oh come on now do you really think he believes the earth is 8 thousand years old?? I think he is just pandering to voters who for whatever reason make evolution and homosexuality the primary issues of importance, when our fucking planet is in peril!! Morons. At least Romney dropped out though...You know how the media always poses the question "Is America ready for a black/woman president" (such a terribly stupid question to begin with) Well, equal as relevant was the question Jon Stewart posed "Is America ready for a president who wears magical underwear?" Nothing against mormons as a whole, but that guy sucks balls.