WOW ! GREAT STYLE ! OPEN PERSONALITY IS ATTRACTIVE!NO RACIAL AX TO GRIND !
These are not reasons to vote for the President of the United States . Nor is it a good reason to vote for the persn who is a heart beat away . Not once did you mention POLICY !

Kritter , voters like you scare me more than any candidate . That is not an insult . It is what I find most objectionable about our voting system .

If you think the war is over then you are as misguided as those you are condemning. I hope you are not saying that the threat of terrorism is not real. I know a lot of dead people all over the world who would disagree with that.

This war has just started. The last war between the infidels and the Muslims lasted 100 years.

The GOP gets a lot of the blame as well. They have acted like Bush’s minions, instead of a separate institution. They’re loyalty should be to the Constitution and to the people who elected them, not to the President. But many were coerced into voting for the war, and gave the president a blank check on funding, troop level, etc. They didn’t question whether the intel was faked or cherry-picked, but defended Bush and the war at every turn. They didn’t question the falsely rosy reports coming from Cheney and Rumsfeld for three years. Now that they’ve actually lost their majority, they’re also beginning to lose their unity on the issue. If you look at the GOP senators who are coming out against the surge, you see they are up for reelection in ’08 and are from states that have turned against the war.

So I just might vote Republican this time even if its Rush Limbaugh.

I come across as a republican apologist because I am angry at the democratic party for lying about Iraq and lying about lies. They have taken lies and turned them to truths and they have taken truths and made them into lies to get elected. So therein lies my conundrum.

Despite all that I think Obama would make an excellent president in 2016. After 2 years as Ambassador to the UN. 2 as assistant Deputy director of the CIA and 4 years as secretary of State. Give me that and Ill lead his campaign myself.

I’m not sure why you think the frontrunners haven’t made enemies. John McCain certainly drew fire from the Bush campaign in 2000. Giuliani was controversial in NY. And as for Hillary…

Colen Powell. John McCain. Chuck Hagel.

Rudi Guilliani despite the fact that I like him and think hes adorable, I do not believe he has the experience internationally to run this country.

However whats intriguing in all this is that the 3 front runners are all inexperienced and from what I can tell they have done nothing to make any enemies yet…..A bad reason to select them to run our great country.

I do have a question for Upinsmoke, though: Who would have sufficient foreign policy experience to satisfy you? Chuck Hagel?
John McCain? Bill Richardson? Someone not in the race?

I stand by that. They are legitimate questions to ask about GWB and being an alcholic or taking Cocaine and I seem to remember those getting a lot of press. He did it. He was able to over come it.

I dont remeber ever saying Barak Hussein Obama. I don’t recall having anything at all against this man other then his absolute total lack of experience.

Secondly Im not sure why you think I would never vote for him. I have voted for a democrat way more then I have voted for a republican. Secondly My oldest daughter is in an interracial marriage and I have 3 interracial grandchildren.

I really resent the implications that you are throwing out inuendos at me and are attributing to me that which I never said or implied.

I repeat. HE HAS NO EXPERIENCE. Neither does Hillary. This is not the time in our history to have a clueless inexperienced man in the white house. We have just suffered thru 6 and soon to be 8 years of that. Enough is enough.

Bottom line, if one believes that Obama will work to better the nation and you like the idea of how he would do that, you’ll vote for him. If you think someone else will do it better, vote for them. Being that the first thing I remember out of your mouth about Obama is how America would never vote for Barack Hussein Obama and how you eagerly jumped on the utterly unfounded and throughly discredited claim that he was brought up muslim, you’ll excuse me for thinking you aren’t exactly judging him fairly.

“America, it’s time to start bringing our troops home,” he said. “Letting the Iraqis know that we will not be there forever is our last, best hope to pressure the Sunni and Shia to come to the table and find peace.”

Does he really believe this or is this what he has to believe to get elected. Does he really think that the Sunnis and the Shia will find peace with each other if the USA withdraws from IRAQ? Is that experience talking? Don’t sound like it to me. Sounds like wishful thinking from a candidate that is saying what he knows the followers want to hear not what the reality is.

I wont even respond to your “cute” remark.

I wonder how many of you think GWB is a threat to this nation. Because he is clueless and doing things that lack judgement. He went to Yale. Hes a fairly educated guy. He was a governor. Ran a baseball team. He hired a lot of fairly intelligent guys and gals to surround him and it didnt seem to make much difference. AFter 8 years of Bush why is anyone thinking it will be any different with Obama or Hillary???

In the end the final decision belongs to the DECIDER and that will be Obama. I for one vote against putting a totally inexperienced man in the WH under these trying times.

First, “zero experience” is the kind of hyperbolic assertion that doesn’t really lend itself to serious discussion. Of course Obama has experience. He grew up with a dark skin in a mixed race household in a white-dominant culture. He grew up in the midwest, in Indonesia, in Hawaii. He was Editor of the Harvard Law review (do you have ANY idea how tough that is?) He forswore a the lucrative law practice that position virtually guaranteed to become a grassroots organizer on the streets of Chicago. And he’s spent two years in Washington, certainly long enough for such a bright fellow to understand what a cesspool that is.

But regardless.

Experience is a plus when it demonstrates ability, judgment, foresight, wisdom, but it is possible for a person to have those things without the sort of things you put on a resume.

And experience itself is no guarantee of any of those things, witness Dick Cheney.

Americans don’t really seem to vote for resumes, else Bill Richardson would be the Dem frontrunner, and Al Gore would be President.

And to be clear I’m not particularly favoring Obama at present, but to dismiss him as a mere prettyboy strikes me as offensive.

“a threat to the nation”? We must have fairly different standards. I consider Osama bin Laden a “threat to the nation”, and Obama as merely not the best choice.

and you guys want to trust a man who has almost NO experience in foreign affairs because hes “Cute�

Which “guys” here are claiming Obama is “Cute”? Are you implying that this board is dominated by gay centrists?

And it’s not entirely accurate to say he has “no experience”. He’s been involved in public policy for a number of years, including with a non-profit, as a state senator, and now as a US Senator. It’s true he has no foregin policy experience–but to the best of my knowledge neither did Bush (Texas governor), Clinton (Arkansas governor), or Reagan (California governor). So I’m not sure it’s really a disqualification.

Obama has zero expeience. Zero. He is a threat to this nation from that standpoint only. No experience and being thrown onto the world stage where the world is on the verge of going up in flames and you guys want to trust a man who has almost NO experience in foreign affairs because hes “Cute”

And your bashing the Call in viewers as being clueless??????

For those who keep saying that he doesn’t stand firm on any issue I’d like to ask them what they think. He came out and said that he believes in universal health care, by no means an uncontroversial position to take, but one I support wholeheartedly.