I sure hope that Obama is prepared to guard against the "set-up" his

[Kellyiswise]

opponents (both Dem and Republican)are working on. He is much too popular too soon. The "establishment" can't stand it.

[USA_1]

1. But What Will Be Done To Counter ...

the badmouthing and all the slander that will be directed his way as the election nears?

[geek tragedy]

2. Some people are like Velcro for unfair attacks, and

some people are like Teflon. Obama is the latter.

[Nia Zuri]

5. John Kerry would be the former...

[geek tragedy]

6. Indeed. I was going to mention him as such

an example, but didn't for fear of drawing in his spirited supporters around here.

[HereSince1628]

3. Hillary's candidacy is no secret. She'll take a lot of the heat.

The R's have worked since before 92 to vilify her. Will they hate a very smart black man more than the evil soul mate of THE CLENIS?

[WI_DEM]

4. Certainly he must guard against what happened to Dean in 04

the media wrote fawning stories about Dean in '03 and about his huge crowds and fundraising and then threw him to the wolves in 04.

[Rob H.]

7. I've read that it's started already

Ed Rogers has already referred to him as "Barack Hussein Obama" on Hardball. It is Obama's middle name, but no way would Rogers have done that if his middle name were something like Edward or William or something more "American-sounding."

[SteveM]

9. Obama and gun control

Well, I hate to bring this up, but has anyone delved into Barack Obama's record and stance on gun control? I have found various statements attributed to Obama wherein he favors banning, through sale and transfer, ALL semi-automatic guns. There are many millions of legally-held semi-automatic guns in this country. Most of their owners vote.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

11. If That Would Be The Best They Could Come Up With To Denigrate Him With They'd Be In Trouble.

Not sure where he stands on it though, but also admittedly I don't care too much.

[TangoCharlie]

12. Gun control is a marginal issue

It should only come into play in a close race. I'm hoping the next election will not be all that close, given the Reps' ratings.

There are more important things to deal with than gun control.

[benEzra]

14. As long as he adopts a firm leave-it-to-the-states position, it probably wouldn't

be much of an issue.

If he takes the DLC's talk-up-hunting-while-fighting-to-ban-nonhunting-guns crusade, he'd make the gun issue front-and-center, even if he didn't intend to. That was the hard lesson the party FINALLY seemed to learn after '04, and I can't believe the leadership would be foolish enough to try to repeat the 1994, 2000, and 2004 debacles again.



------
Dems and the Gun Issue - Now What? (written in '04, largely vindicated in '06, IMHO)

[Upfront]

17. Gun Control Big Issue

I can't begin to express how many good union Democratic votes have been lost over this issue. It is big and Howard Dean has the best answer on this.

[aikoaiko]

19. I promise you, there will be close races in many states (some key states).

He needs a good position on guns to help in those states.

[newyawker99]

16. Hi SteveM!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[aikoaiko]

18. Could you provide me some links to the references on banning all auto-loaders

Its not that I don't believe you, but I've been wondering about his stance too.

Chicago and northern Illi are fairly anti-gun and I can see how his stance (the one you described) would be tailored to his constituency, but for someone who wants to appeal to democrats across the nation he'll have to do better.

As someone else said, the best he can do without looking bad to his own base is to say that any additional gun control laws must be done on the states level. If he wants to score some points, he could even role back some of the more assinine federal laws (import bans on semi-automatics, sporter clause, etc.).

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

8. If He Can't Handle It, Then He Isn't Ready. If He Can, Then He Is.

I'd say it's about as simple as that.

[nevergiveup]

10. Very true

[Disturbed]

13. If he is as smart as many say then he will not run.

He could be the VP easily if he holds on to his popularity.

[dipsydoodle]

15. Get your tee shirts here

http://www.depresident.com/shop.asp?s=liberal_shop/1139001

[Patiod]

20. He's not popular. He doesn't wear a tie!!

His first name sounds like Osama!!

His middle name is Hussein!!

Just those three facts alone should be enough to disqualify him from any elected office!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/011510.php

[jarab]

21. If he's not prepared for the "set-up" ...

he's not prepared for the presidency (ref J F Kerry).
...O...