WHY do people like Obama SO much??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FrenchieCat]

I'm just putting it out there.

I like him because he is an original thinker.

Bout you?

[Ron Green]

1. He's real. He doesn't play a self-effacing act like Bush or Reagan, he actually can laugh

at himself.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Because he is authentic.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Because he represent the hope that we have for our nation.

[eshfemme]

4. Because he is revolutionary for saying stuff that you and I have been thinking for years.

Most of the stuff he says and does hasn't been said or done in politics for a long time and that's because politics in America has grown disconnected from the common citizen. He's simply reconnecting us all and I like that.

[FrenchieCat]

5. Good one.

and I like how he speaks. It is always very clear and he usually doesn't repeat himself to make the same point over and over again in one sitting!

[TheKentuckian]

7. Talking to the public like adults

goes a looooooooooooong way with me. He's also got the skillset for the job-intellectual curiosity, brain power, even keeled demeanor, powerful oratory (hence dominate in the "bully pulpit"), and he actually seems to contemplate the world.

[billyoc]

6. He's the Democrat.

[FrenchieCat]

10. Excellent reason!

I like it! :)

[BlooInBloo]

8. Smart, well-intentioned, strategic thinker, fine speaker, funny....

Uh... am I missing anything?

[FrenchieCat]

9. He saw the Biggest strategic Blunder of going into Iraq for what it was?

[proud patriot]

11. It hit me when I was reading "Dreams of my Father "

I was raised by my grandparents mostly . I really connect with him
there . Reading about his early life I understand where he comes from .

I come from there too.

[Whisp]

12. because he doesn't flinch

which means he doesn't have anything or much to hide

he stays on message because he doesn't lie and have to remember what he lied about to keep on track

odd duck, that one. ;)

[rufus dog]

13. Let's see

1. I like a President who is smarter than me. (W and Reagan weren't)
2. I like a leader who can motivate others to do better
3. I like a fighter who has worked his or her ass off to get where they are. (while maintaining integrity)

I truly have hope that Obama will exceed Clinton with a minimum amount of scandals.

[Phredicles]

14. He has a mind and is willing to use it.

Such a refreshing change from the Reagan-Bush era.

[JeffR]

15. Well, let's see...

- Smart

- Liberal (though no-one to the right of Bernie Sanders will ever be liberal enough for me)

- Thoughtful

- Charismatic

- Tactically astute

- Eloquent

- Inspirational

- Pragmatic (meaning not bound to any ideology, even the one I'm bound to)

Other than that, I got nuthin'.

:shrug:

[Withywindle]

16. How shall I count the ways?

1) Because he's extremely intelligent, and Lord knows that'll be a nice change.

2) Because his intelligence isn't just book-smarts, he also has emotional intelligence - a knack for connecting with people and inspiring them and acting as a catalyst. Also known as 'charisma' - some on DU act like the ability to inspire huge joyous loving crowds is a BAD thing. Well, we're never gonna win without it!

3) Because he has a sincere respect for other cultures that goes deep. Some try to paint this as a negative too - but for anyone with a worldview that extends more than 10 minutes into the future, this is obviously a quality that's going to be vital in negotiating the REAL world, not the cartoonishly simplistic one * and his followers live in.

4) Because he thinks before he speaks.

5) And when he does speak, it shows the thought.

6) Because I believe he's sincerely optimistic, but that does NOT equal naive, and we've allowed cynicism to dominate our thought for too long. (I think this is related to #3 - if you truly are able to respect cultures different from your own, you see the wisdom and the beauty that they have, and that gives you hope. How can it not?)

7) Because of his driving, abiding curiosity (related to #1 - intelligence has nothing to do with how formally educated you are, and EVERYTHING to do with how interested you are in continuing to learn new things). I don't think President Obama will ever be rigid, ideological, inflexible. I think he's intellectually limber enough to stay well-informed about a world that never stands still, and tap very diverse sources for his knowledge.

8) Because I don't see him surrounding himself with yes-men. I bet even little Sasha feels free to say so if she thinks he's wrong about something. And I bet he's willing to admit it when she's right.

[FrenchieCat]

25. You are right on many counts........in particular about little Sasha!

LOL!

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

17. He's smart. He's funny and can laugh at himself

He's real
He's a self-made man
He has a beautiful wife and two darling little girls
He's post-racial in the best possible way
He always engages his brain before he opens his mouth
He gives a damn about the kind of people he grew up with
He killed at Harvard Law yet remained true to himself
He chose to take the hard way after graduating magna from Harvard Law rather than the easy way of corporate servitude
He is demonstrably a good father and husband
He knows who and what he is and remains faithful to it
He is a brilliant orator who speaks in the name of the best within us
He grew up as the son of a single mother and the grandson of people who told him to be the best he can be
He has seen the world, understands it and respects the differences in it
He is impossibly articulate and intelligent
He gives a shit
He understands the possibilities of the future
He understands the failures of the past

Barack Obama is no saint, but he is the best and brightest hope this country has offered up since Robert Kennedy, He is the best and brightest hope to lead this country back to its roots and into the 21st century, I am old enough to remember Jack and Bob Kennedy. Caroline was right.

[FrenchieCat]

18. Thank you. that was worth asking for.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

19. Thank you FrechieCat

My Max sends his purrs. :blush:

[FrenchieCat]

20. And Purrrrrr for Max!

:)

[mrs_p]

21. when i heard him speak at the 2004 convention

it was the first time IN MY LIFE i felt proud to be an american. i knew then and there i wanted him to be our president.

i agree with your "original thinker." i, myself, have described him as a free thinker and someone hard to put in a labeled box - sort of like most of the people i know (gen x'ers and/or academics). i don't always agree with him, but i like that he looks at all sides of an issue and actually seeks out differing views on a subject.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

22. I saw that speech

I turned to my 82 year old mother and said "That man is going to be President of the United States one day." Despite her generational dislike of African Americans, she agreed with me.

[caledesi]

29. Me too! NT

[FrenchieCat]

23. It is much easier to accept the views of someone that has at least

taken all views into consideration.....as opposed to Bush/Cheney who could care less.

I'm kind of hype at the C-Span transparent issue meetings that he's talked about. That is something real to look forward to.

[mrs_p]

24. agreed!

and i like how you always stay with your posts (which are wonderfully positive). thanks, frenchiecat!

[FrenchieCat]

26. You are very welcomed!

:hi:

[MonteLukast]

27. Because he gets people to care about getting politically involved.

[FrenchieCat]

28. He certainly is a motivator, definitly......

He has made me a better person politically just by running. Just think of how he will get us interested and involved when he becomes President! Bully pulpit to the max.

[Sidney J Mussburger]

30. This video properly explains why I like him so much

it's not the top reason, but it's close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WJsuM19-8c

[ncteechur]

31. "Because he stands on a wall and says, 'Nothing is going to harm you tonight--not on my watch.'"

[Sunnyshine]

32. Because he comes from a loving, multi-ethnic, pieced together family that is similar to my own.

His life, and eventually his supporters for political office, grew tenfold - directly from the people who value the diversity of this nation. We have pieced together families all over the place, but the Republicans tend to frown or shame these types of families.

Barack's life has taken him all kinds of places in the world, but no matter where he has been, he always remembered that he was the son/grandson to the Dunham family in Hawaii, USA. We need a President that wants to represent all families and restore hope that working hard to make a better way for our children is the quintessential American dream. Barack has lived that reality and came out a better man for it. He is humble, but determined. I never thought I could have a President like that. :7

[stray cat]

33. He is the opposite of the policies, secretiveness (lies) and shallowness of Bush in every way.

[lojasmo]

34. He represents the evolution of the Dean revolution.

We're gonna' take our country back!