Barak Obama
like Barak Obama despite his odd name. I heard him on NPR a couple of months ago and he was self deprecating (he said on his first day in the Senate, as a freshman Senator, he was handed a pile of pencils to sharpen), he's articulate, good educated and he made a nice speech in 2004. I'm a little surprised on how much he is being considered for president considering he is a novice in politics, but he is a smart guy and people seem to like him.
By the way, the "good educated" comment was a joke, so lighten up professor.
I'm a little unclear on his political views because there's not a lot out there on him. Sure, he opposes the Iraq war, but that's not uncommon among Democrats, or even Republicans. I know he's against gay marriage but approves civil unions. He opposes privatization of Social Security. He's pro-choice. Maybe I need to read the Chicago papers more.
The other day, when asked if he thinks people will not vote for him because he is black, he answered to the effect that he does think some people are racists and won't vote for him, but those are the same people who don't agree with his politics and would not have voted for him anyway.
When I first heard the audio clip on 96.9 I was like "what the eff is he talking about? Because someone doesn't agree with basic liberal doctrine, they are a racist?" That's a little strong, don't you think Bacharach?
I know what he was trying to say I think. That liberals are open minded and accepting and republicans are close minded and don't want African Americans or women-folk in office. That democrats are intelligent enough to vote based on what is best for this country regardless of race, skin color, gender while republicans want one of their good old boys running the show. Ok, I get that.
The thing I wonder is if there is some racist far left-wing nut job sitting in his or her office at Dartmouth or Bentley College who was just insulted for being called a republican.