What views do you project on Obama? • How disappointed will you be?

[GoldieAZ49]

How disappointed will you be that he doesn't share those views?

“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views,” Mr. Obama wrote in “The Audacity of Hope, his I’m-running-for-president book. “As such, I am bound to disappoint some, if not all, of them.”

Why would you want a 'blank screen' as a nominee?

Trying to be everything to everybody is not unity, it is an illusion.


Do you really think America is going to vote for a blank screen in November?

[ananda]

1. Well..

I plan to vote for anyone who is not
McSame.

[0007]

2. The blank screen represent the American people, huh?

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Much Better A Blank Screen Than A Guaranteed Catastrophe

We have a choice to make.

[BeyondGeography]

4. I expect him to make me 20 years younger, financially secure and bring my beloved grandfather back

to life.

Anything less would be unacceptable.

[BeyondGeography]

5. Double post Sunday on DU

[RichardRay]

6. I won't be disappointed at all...

I don't expect anyone, and certainly not politicians, to be able to do much of what they say they'll be able to. I am perfectly happy to weigh a candidates aspirations in and of themselves.

As to the blank screen quote: The fact that people project onto him doesn't mean that he has no light of his own. I'd far rather elect a man who says he's going to disappoint folks who project onto him than one who claims going to satisfy them!

[chascarrillo]

7. Well, I sure hope that you'll do your best to campaign for him in November.

[soundguy]

8. Good Post

Very valid. However, it will be lost on the weak of mind.

[cali]

10. lol

it's completely disingenuous. Of course that will be lost on the perpetually hypocritical and the terminally stupid.

[cali]

9. First of all, that was then- before he started running

and before the American people got to know him and what he stands for and what his policy positions are. I don't believe that's true any longer. Secondly, it's repulsive of you to put words in his mouth. He did notsay that he was trying to be everything to everybody- ever. For that matter, he's made it quite clear who he is.

Lies are lies.

[GoldieAZ49]

14. Really?

He says he wants to end the war, but has no plan and has said he will keep us there until al-qeda is no longer in Iraq

He says he was healthcare available for all Americans but said it won't happen in 4 years.

He wants to remain a blank screen to get elected.

He is almost as much a blank screen as he was when he wrote the book.

'vaporware'

[cali]

21. Do some homework

he does have a plan. And he does not plan on keeping the number of troops there that Madame-eager-to-go-to-war does.

He's right that it will likely take several years to pass meaningful healthcare coverage legislation. In fact, I have a friend who's both a lawyer and a physician who heads up a group trying to extend healthcare coverage to all at a state level, who says it's unlikely to happen period.

He's not remotely a blank screen except to hypocritical and desperate little hillbots who are out of ammunition except for their selfish and disgusting threats not to vote for him.

Pathetic. I have nothing but contempt for a certain contingent of hillbots- and they richly deserve it.

People like you are the reason I'm so enjoying watching hillypoo's campaign sink.

Can't wait to officially stick the fork in her.

[GoldieAZ49]

27. never been a Hillary fan, but it is true once she is out of the race the 'blank screen'

will be filled in by the MSM.

Jones, Rezco, Wright and much more.

I am sure you will enjoy watching it.

[xchrom]

11. it's a very telling quote.

i hold obama in very little regard because of statements like that.

we fiercely decry the religiosity of the right -- but lift it up in obama.

and that particular quote has messianic aspiration written all over it.

oh well -- the world will go on -- he will be prez i'm fairly certain -- but he can do it without my help.

[Life Long Dem]

12. Opposed to what? A screen that's full of lobbyists and special interests?

[ClassWarrior]

19. Not to mention Murdoch, Sciafe, Sanctimonium, Inhofe...

...et al.

NGU.

[DarienComp]

13. are there any clinton supporters left

who aren't complete and utter hacks? I'm sure there are, but I keep seeing the same handles regurgitate the same drivel over and over and over...

[ClassWarrior]

15. I don't think FDR's supporters were "disappointed"...

CUNY Professor Frances Fox Piven on a recent Democracy Now!:

You know, in 1932, FDR didn’t run with a good program; he ran with the same program the Democrats had run with in 1924 and 1928, and that wasn’t a good program. But nevertheless, his rhetoric encouraged people who were suffering as a result of the Depression—working people, the unemployed—and helped to fuel the movements, which then forced FDR to support initiatives which he otherwise would not have supported, including the right to organize...

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/6/super_tuesday_roundtable_with_bill_fletcher

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

22. The BEST Dems are "blank screens." (See above...)

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

30. In fact, this is the Progressive opportunity that Obama's campaign represents.

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

31. .

[ClassWarrior]

34. .

[ClassWarrior]

37. .

[ClassWarrior]

48. .

[OzarkDem]

16. We need leaders who tell us their views

Our country is in crisis, we need candidates who will be honest with us, not play games and hide their real political leanings.

[VolcanoJen]

32. "We need candidates who will be honest with us"

[Kukesa]

33. Good one, Jen. n/t

[GoldieAZ49]

35. keep looking cause Obama isn't it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdYByptC8mY

[VolcanoJen]

39. Awwwww

You no likey my picture? :cry:

[OzarkDem]

44. "Professor" Obama

Obama and health care reform. Enuf said.

[VolcanoJen]

46. You're not making any sense.

:shrug:

Did you happen to see John Kerry (I know, he's dead to you now) on "This Week" earlier? He said Clinton's health care reform plan, as it stands, is a complete non-starter in the Senate.

[Levgreee]

17. Last time I checked, the purpose of a politician is to represent people, to carry out their views

in an official manner. A politician serves as a representative to everyone in their state, this is FACT. They may not do what everyone wants, but they should listen to everyone, and know what people are thinking and what they want...

And then, do the things they can, within limits determined by rational analysis of what the best path to take is, and the politicians personal views.

[skater314159]

18. Tabula rasa

I'd rather have a tabula rasa like Obama than a used, lying, dirty, useless, corrupt, too much like the Repugs, corporate-backed, and status quo slate like Hillary any day.

Oh yeh, and the Ancient Greeks liked tabula rasa too - so this is a religious issue to me.

Hell yeh, Americans want change, and they will vote for Obama in Nov... you are at least finally realising that HE WILL WIN THE NOMINATION.

[GoldieAZ49]

28. I thought so long ago, before I left camp O

it would surprise me if he wasn't the nominee

[Levgreee]

20. Furthermore, you decimated the quote... not surprisingly... it's the type of low-handed tactic i'd

expect from you.

Here's the context of the quote.

"“I am new enough on the national political scene,” he writes, “that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”"

He is not ACTUALLY saying he serves as a 'blank screen', just that is how people take him, as he is new to the political scene. Once he is not 'new enough', he will lose the blank screen property.

[GoldieAZ49]

24. you decimated the quote by leaving out how he fully expects to disappoint

most if not all.

adding your interpretation. ie; projecting your own view.

[tyne]

23. I think it's important that we view that quote in context, eh?

"I suspect that some readers may find my presentation of these issues to be insufficiently balanced. To this accusation, I stand guilty as charged. I am a Democrat, after all; my views on most topics correspond more closely to the editorial pages of the New York Times than those of the Wall Street Journal. I am angry about policies that consistently favor the wealthy and powerful over average Americans, and insist that government has an important role in opening up opportunity to all. I believe in evolution, scientific inquiry, and global warming; I believe in free speech, whether politically correct or politically incorrect, and I am suspicious of using government to impose anybody’s religious beliefs–including my own–on nonbelievers. Furthermore, I am a prisoner of my own biography: I can’t help but view the American experience through the lens of a black man of mixed heritage, forever mindful of how generations of people who looked like me were subjugated and stigmatized, and the subtle and not so subtle ways that race and class continue to shape our lives.

But that is not all that I am. I also think my party can be smug, detached, and dogmatic at times. I believe in the free market, competition, and entrepreneurship, and think no small number of government programs don’t work as advertised. I wish the country had fewer lawyers and more engineers. I think America has more often been a force for good than for ill in the world; I carry few illusions about our enemies, and revere the courage and competence of our military. I reject a politics that is based solely on racial identity, gender identity, sexual orientation, or victimhood generally. I think much of what ails the inner city involves a breakdown in culture that will not be cured by money alone, and that our values and spiritual life matter at least as much as our GDP.

Undoubtedly, some of these views will get me in trouble. I am new enough on the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views. As such, I am bound to disappoint some, if not all, of them. Which perhaps indicates a second, more intimate theme to this book–namely, how I, or anybody in public office, can avoid the pitfalls of fame, the hunger to please, the fear of loss, and thereby retain that kernel of truth, that singular voice within each of us that reminds us of our deepest commitments."

Makes quite a difference when the quote is in context.

[loyalsister]

38. guilty of my own accusation

I think that at some point we all believe that everyone agrees with us.
We really get cocky when there is a poll!

Maybe Obama thinks he should listen to people with whom there seem to be wide differences of opinion. Even us democrats who have believed the polls reflected agreement with us at various points in this election. And maybe we will want to write in our candidate on his slate?

If Hillary wins I hope that she would take this advice.

[JoFerret]

25. Gonna be a right royal mess

...that's for sure.

[TexanDem]

26. Would you prefer your pres to listen to NO ONE!?

Informed decisions are usually better.

[ClassWarrior]

29. Don't we already have one of those? I guess some here...

...would take Bush** over Obama.

NGU.

[izzybeans]

36. I think this is an important question that those who oppose him need to answer.

I haven't met a person yet who opposed him on grounds that understood his positions on issues or the accurate contents of his biography.

Will they be embarrassed when they realize their paranoid fantasies are the stuff of political fairy-tales?

His opposition projects on him like a blank screen, his supporters realize he is nothing less than a man of strong substance.

[GoldieAZ49]

40. "a man of strong substance"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

best laugh of the day!

Thanks for that!

[izzybeans]

42. You are proof positive of my point.

[applegrove]

41. That is what bugs me about Obama. He is so vague at times. I like

inspiration as much as the next guy but I'd like to see more substance & nuance in his stump speech. IMHO

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

43. He's a moderate like Hillary. I expect either to act like "politics as usual" politiciaans.

Either of them, if elected, will do whatever they think necessary to get re-elected.

[OzarkDem]

45. How do you know what Obama is?

His record, as thin as it is, does not reflect a progressive or liberal person.

[ClassWarrior]

47. He represents a Progressive opportunity. See post #15 above.

NGU.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

49. That's what I said. The differences between he and Hillary are miniscule.