(In trying to keep with Kenny's desire to use the proper honorifics for the people running for president, I added it here.)
Ken? Kenny? What do you think of Senator Obama as a presidential candidate?
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
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5 comments:
Haven't followed the Dems very closely besides the major headlines.
I'll just admit up front that my preference for Sen. Obama is mostly visceral: I just have a strong gut feeling about him. The weaknesses is that I can't name any one of his policies that would be better than anyone else's.
But what I love about him is that he inspires. When is the last time we had that in a president? I think he could bring the country together (b/c no one really dislikes him, save Sen. Clinton), and if we could put aside some of the partisan politicking, maybe we could get some important things done, like campaign finance reform.
I just think maybe he could change the whole tone of politics in this country, a tone which has often caused me to despair about there being anything good to be done through politics.
More concretely, I like that he was a professor of constitutional law; it would be nice to have a chief executive who understood our primary governing document. Sen. Obama is clearly a really intelligent guy, but what's different about him compared to the other candidates (Sen. Clinton is obviously an intelligent woman) is his attitude, which I think is pretty well summed up by the slogan of "not politics as usual."
I just think he might try a lot of things that are outside the political norm, and for someone like me who has almost no faith in the political norm, that's a reason to vote for him.
(Congressman Kucinich and Sen. Gravel would probably try things outside the norm too, but they seem crazy).
Chemerinsky for President!
I'll take a good look at Sen. Obama if he wins the Democractic Primary. If Huckabee or Guiliani are nominated, there is an outside chance that I could be persuaded to vote for him.
Oh, no, NOT Chemerinsky for anything other than law prof! Having taken classes from him, and thinking he's an extremely nice guy, the last place I'd want him is anywhere with decisional power.
Here's a good article on Obama that convey's a similar sense for why I like him, not for his political experience, but for who he appears to be as a person:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/opinion/18brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
I'm still at odds with myself over the abortion issue though...
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