|
|
Post by phil on Jan 21, 2007 11:35:57 GMT -5
Isn't American politics all about who has the biggest money-backing? Very sad but very true ... ! Total contributions to presidential candidates : Total (receipts) Total -spendings- - 2004 ($880.5) -$717.9- - 2000 ($528.9) -$343.1- - 1996 ($425.7) -$239.9- - 1992 ($331.1) -$192.2- - 1988 ($324.4) -$210.7- - 1984 ($202.0) -$103.6- - 1980 ($161.9) -$92.3- - 1976 ($171.0) -$66.9- Presidential candidates receipts in 2004 ... - George W. Bush (R) ~ $367,228,801 - John Kerry (D) ~ $328,479,245 - Ralph Nader (3) ~ $4,567,299 www.opensecrets.org/presidential/index.asp?graph=spending
|
|
|
|
Post by frag on Jan 21, 2007 11:42:12 GMT -5
Well, sure every politician panders I just think that Hilary does it the point that it's insulting. Dolly brings up a good point in that for a large percentage of the American public "likability" is one of the number one factors...I, for one, don't think she's very likable. She and McCain are poll the highest right now but think both will lose in the primaries. McCain because he supports the surge will most likely be a disaster and Hilary because I think the more time she spends in front of the cameras the more unlikable she becomes. Most people already have an opinion about Hilary and it's easier to stop liking her then it is to stop hating her. IMO this is Obama's election if he wants it...of course with the obvious "a lot can change in two years" disclaimer. If he can get Clark or someone with foreign policy and/or military experience on his ticket he's the guy to beat. Completely agree. The main reason Hillary will never be elected is because she's just downright unlikeable. That was Gore's plague in 2000; Kerry's in '04. I think Americans vote likeability first. Obama could take this thing. Easily on the basis of he's a very likeable individual, even moreso I daresay, than Bill. |
|
|
|
Post by kmc on Jan 21, 2007 12:17:15 GMT -5
He's black. No.
|
|
|
|
Post by luke on Jan 21, 2007 12:54:42 GMT -5
I still think the name will hurt him more than the color. I mean, if his name was "Steve Johnson", he'd be unstoppable. As is, they're gonna smear him with Osama slogans and bumper stickers and implant in the minds of people that he's a Muslim terrorist. Already I heard some kid last night talking about how "the press exposed how Obama grew up a Muslim extremist."
|
|
|
|
Post by dolly on Jan 21, 2007 13:04:15 GMT -5
What? You've already had a black president. Jack Bauer's good friend President Palmer. If Jack says it's ok, then America is ready.  Weren't gore and kerry more bland than unlikeable (could be wrong - not exposed to the obsessive coverage here in UK than you guys). Hillary certainly aint bland - but yeah, she does seem to be more disliked the more central to the puyblic's connscience she is. Republican's would have a field day with her. As is, they're gonna smear him with Osama slogans and bumper stickers and implant in the minds of people that he's a Muslim terrorist. No offence, but this really would only be a successful strategy in America. |
|
|
|
Post by kmc on Jan 21, 2007 13:07:07 GMT -5
True.
|
|
|
|
Post by dolly on Jan 21, 2007 13:09:21 GMT -5
I think Americans vote likeability first.
We're going the same way. Quite a fan of Blair in the past (still am, save some 'unforunate' alliances, and some dubious social and foreign policies - so, less and less...) but David Cameron of the Tories will take it over Gordon Brown (our current grumpy scotch bastard chancellor) purely based on the fact that he is younger, has whiter teeth, and can talk the 'hoodie lingo'.
Forget economic policy...
the world is a dumber place (see Gordon Brown's state visit to India ambushed by Big Brother racist scandal')
|
|
|
|
Post by phil on Jan 21, 2007 13:56:42 GMT -5
In these days and age, image has replace substance
and slogans/negative adds have replaced any kind of messages/policies ...
Still have to get out and vote though ...!
|
|
|
|
Post by Galactus on Jan 21, 2007 14:41:18 GMT -5
Yeah, he's a smoker too.
I think when things get rolling and he's on TV on the time he can overcome the stigma of having a name that closely resymbles that of a terrorist...it still sounds foreign though so it's still going to be tough. There are a lot of people who will never vote for a black man, but a lot of those people would never vote for a democrat either.
|
|
|
|
Post by Proud on Jan 21, 2007 14:55:37 GMT -5
Anybody mention Obama's middle name yet?
Oh, and here's some trivia in case anybody's bored:
A) Who was the last nominated presidential candidate (only counting parties that matter, of course) to run for his party's nomination again and not get it? ... With the exception of candidates who ran against incumbents, i.e. Roosevelt v. Taft.
B) Name the last time a war president lost an election, while his respective war was still being fought.
I'm (potentially) going somewhere with this.
|
|
|
|
Post by frag on Jan 21, 2007 15:18:50 GMT -5
The Obama/Osama thing is way too obvious a joke to make. Maybe I'm being generous here, but I think most Americans would see it as a stupid joke.
In any other instance, I would say that a black man would have a hard time getting voted in. But at this point in the current political climate (assuming Bush maintains his low approval ratings) Obama seems like a polar opposite. Not an extreme, mind you, but a definite breath of fresh air. Right now, that seems like as good a selling point as any to middle America. I may be way wrong here, but I think if ever there were a time for a major change, it is now. Assuming the better part of the country feels the same, Obama could go all the way.
Gore and Kerry were both bland and unlikeable. The two (characteristics, that is) go hand-in-hand, really. Especially in politics. Obama is neither.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kensterberg on Jan 21, 2007 15:44:31 GMT -5
Just feel compelled to point out that "unlikeable" Al Gore recieved more votes in 2000 than any candidate in history.
It's media spin that labelled Gore "unlikeable" not the American people.
|
|
|
|
Post by Galactus on Jan 21, 2007 15:53:25 GMT -5
So did Kerry in '04. The American people labeled Gore boring, which he was. Had he been more charismatic it wouldn't even have been close.
|
|
|
|
Post by phil on Jan 21, 2007 15:58:20 GMT -5
If Gore was "boring" in 2000,
how would you have qualified Junior
during the same campaign ... ??
|
|
|
|
Post by phil on Jan 22, 2007 7:26:37 GMT -5
The evil weed
Obama's secret vice
Jan 18th 2007 | WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition
A human in the White House?
IN HIS 1995 memoir, “Dreams from My Father”, Barack Obama confessed to youthful dabbling with pot, booze and “maybe a little blow”. These admissions have not hurt his cause. If anything, they have been taken as a sign of candour. But the senator has at least one more vice. He smokes cigarettes. “It's not something I'm proud of,” he said last year. He is trying to quit. If he fails, some voters may hold it against him.
In the past American presidents have not had to be shy about smoking. When Ulysses Grant told a reporter he liked cigars, well-wishers sent him more than 20,000. FDR used an elegant cigarette holder. Gerald Ford smoked a pipe, and everyone says he was a nice man. Andrew Jackson also had a pipe, made from a corncob. Even First Ladies indulge. Laura Bush reportedly sneaks a cigarette now and then between rounds with “The Brothers Karamazov”.
Still, the modern presidential candidate has little room for error. According to a 2006 Gallup poll, only a quarter of Americans now smoke. Many of those who abstain consider smoking a sign of weakness or intemperance.
Of course, honeymoons have to end. But as habits go, Mr Obama's smoking is less annoying than John Kerry's poetry-writing and less odd than George Bush's obsessive brush-clearing. Americans will have to resign themselves to the fact that no one is perfect, not even Mr Obama. It has also emerged that his middle name is Hussein, and that his ears stick out. If this is the worst that can be said, so much the better for him.
|
|
