Obama - Everything to Everybody

[realFedUp]

Do you really know who he is?

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

article | posted June 8, 2006 (June 26, 2006 issue)
Mr. Obama Goes to Washington
David Sirota

-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?

snip

True, Obama did show a rare flash of defiance when he unsuccessfully pushed legislation this year to create an Office of Public Integrity, which would have enforced anti-corruption laws. But that kind of power-challenging move, which was met with strong resistance from both parties, was an exception. At the same time that he was ruffling feathers with that bill, he was one of the many Democratic senators who fled from Russell Feingold's motion to censure Bush over the White House's refusal to seek court orders for domestic wiretapping. Though polls showed that roughly half of Americans supported censure, it was shunned by the Senate club as too confrontational, and Obama seemed to agree.

That's the key word in trying to figure out Obama: He seems like everything to everybody, which is not necessarily his fault. Much of the media coverage of Obama has been personality focused, as the story of the son of a Kenyan and a Kansan, the third African-American senator since Reconstruction. Because the media have not looked as closely at his political positions, Obama has taken on the quality of a blank screen on which people can project whatever they like. But he hasn't discouraged this.. A masterful politician, Obama has a Bill Clinton-esque talent for maximizing that screen and appearing comfortable in almost any setting. And, like Clinton, Obama has an impressive control of the issues and a mesmerizing ability to connect with people.

[sniffa]

1. He's everything to me right now as I voted for him today

:hi:

[realFedUp]

3. I hope he'll be your everything in the future....

I voted for Hillary. :hi:

[libbygurl]

6. Yay! nt

[sniffa]

7. I feel confident he will be

Where as I'm pretty confident she won't be. :hi:

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Better To Promise A Lot To A Few!

Isn't that right, Rupie?

[realFedUp]

4. at least we know who Rupie is....nt

[sfam]

5. Can we do the spinmeister thing on the candidates AFTER the voting?

Just hoping...

[realFedUp]

9. Seems like the whole room is spinning...this is vintage Sirota

probably some of the better asked questions,
even if last year's.

[realFedUp]

8. I was a little surprised to read Barack comparing h.s. to Wellstone

Does he have anything of himself to recommend
instead of borrowing from others greater than
himself?

[Exultant Democracy]

10. How does this fit in with him being the most liberal senator?

[realFedUp]

12. ahhhh...it doesn't.

Except if you are liberal and are seeing him
that way...his voting record seems to say
centrist though.

[katty]

14. his voting record is centrist - but his spin is progressive

[realFedUp]

16. yes...nt

[katty]

11. very good Sirota piece

[depakid]

13. If he gets the nomination, the corporate media will turn on him

like a pack of rabid dogs.

By the time they're done with him, he may end up a one term senator....

[realFedUp]

15. it may be too late if he gets the nomination...

at least they will have to start reporting
the truth about who he is, what he's done
and his voting record.

[depakid]

17. Since when has the corporate media been interested in truth?

You have to back at least 2 decades to see much of that....

[stillcool]

18. His voting record in the Senate

http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=9490



http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/Barack_Obama.htm

OBAMA, Barack, a Senator from Illinois; born in Honolulu, Hawaii, August 4, 1961; obtained early education in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Hawaii; continued education at Occidental College, Los Angeles, Calif.; received a B.A. in 1983 from Columbia University, New York City; worked as a community organizer in Chicago, Ill.; studied law at Harvard University, where he became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review, and received J.D. in 1991; lecturer on constitutional law, University of Chicago; member, Illinois State senate 1997-2004; elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2004 for term beginning January 3, 2005.

Bibliography

Obama, Barack. Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. New York: Times Books, 1995. Reprint 2004; Obama, Barack. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. New York: Crown Publishers, 2006.

Obama Seeks U.S. Senate seat
by TRACY BAIM
2004-02-04
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=3931


on his 'present' votes in the Illinois State Senate
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/us/politics/20obama.html?ex=1355806800&en=8385d348acbab84e&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss


Barack Obama being sworn in as a Democratic state senator in Illinois in 1997. He was first elected in 1996 and left in 2004.

[crazylikafox]

19. Wow. That's a really depressing article.

Obama sounds like the NO CHANGE candidate to me. I really hope that Sirota is mistaken in his take on Obama:

"retreat and equivocation"

"This theme had been reiterated all day: Obama is all about the art of the possible within the system"

"Obama is telling the truth--he's not opposed to structural changes at all. However, he appears to be interested in fighting only for those changes that fit within the existing boundaries of what's considered mainstream in Washington, instead of using his platform to redefine those boundaries. This posture comes even as polls consistently show that Washington's definition of mainstream is divorced from the rest of the country's (for example, politicians' refusal to debate the war even as polls show that Americans want the troops home)"