OK, now that he's the frontrunner: What, exactly, is Obama gonna change?

[jgraz]

Aside from giving us a president who knows how to pronounce "nuclear"?

[Mythsaje]

1. Here's to hoping you get more of a response than I did. n/t

[jgraz]

7. I found his speech tonight incredibly frustrating

I'd love to support the guy, but I have no freaking idea what he stands for.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

14. Well damn him for not making a more policy-detailed and wonky stump speech!

:eyes:

[jgraz]

17. Has he ever?

I'd love to see a transcript of that.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

23. Probably not, but then I don't look to speeches to learn a candidate's positions.

But that's just me. :shrug:

[jgraz]

38. Then why even bother? He's not a cheerleader, he's running for president

Watch Edwards' speech from tonight. That's how you deliver passion AND a plan.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

41. I did. It was a great speech, just as full of homilies and anecdotes as any other politician's.

That's how stump speeches work.

[Beacool]

22. Platitudes, that's what he stands for!!

Richard Cohen in The Washington Post had a telling column on Obama:

The Mendacity of Hope
What We Want to Believe About Obama

By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, January 1, 2008; Page A11

John Edwards lied about the cost of his haircuts. Fred Thompson lied about lobbying for a pro-choice outfit. John McCain insists that the United States was founded as a "Christian nation." Mitt Romney concocted the story about how his father marched with Martin Luther King Jr. And Rudy Giuliani is a one-man fib machine -- everything from why he had to provide police protection for his then-mistress to the survivability rates for prostate cancer in Britain. Yet it is something Barack Obama said that bothers me most of all because Obama is a new kind of politician. He is supposed to be coolly authentic.

What concerns me is the lie or fib or misstatement -- call it what you want -- involved in Obama's assertion that more young black men are in prison than in college. It is a shocking statistic -- and it is wrong. But when The Post's lonesome but formidable truth squad, Michael Dobbs, brought this to the attention of the Obama campaign, he not only got the brushoff but the assertion was later repeated.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123101662.html

[silverlil]

53. Dont have a clue!

Great speech -- but what does he stand for? Why did he not speak to the TV after his win? Huckabee spoke at length on the Keith and Chris Mathews show tonight ..... where was Obama? I will be voting for Edwards here in California in the primary, however, if Obama is our candidate in November I will vote for him.
Tonight was the night that perhaps Edwards would have got some face time with Keith, person to person but where was Edwards? Huckabee got face time with Keith and Chris, as I said, but not one candidate from our party after the elections got to speak with KO and Chris Mathews. Did anyone notice that and was it intentional on the part of the media or what?

[BOSSHOG]

2. He'll be frontrunner for a month

Maybe

[keep_it_real]

5. Why do you say that?

[BOSSHOG]

11. Well, ya see

there are other primaries in the near future. And would you not agree that it is about time that Iowa gave up the first in the nation bullcrap?

[Beausoir]

3. He is the frontrunner now. Let's see how he handles the pressure.

Hopefully, we won't have to endure more Donnie McClurkin and Oprah Winfrey nonsense.

Time for Obama to grow up and get serious.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

4. I have the same question.

What is he gonna change????

I want specifics.

[LakeSamish706]

6. He's finally going to give us some fresh blood in the WH.. And damn...

it's about time we had someone other than a Bush/Clinton occupying our highest office of the land.

[jgraz]

9. And that will get us exactly...what?

"Fresh blood" is nice (tastes much better than that old, scabby blood), but that really doesn't get us out of Iraq now, does it?

[enough already]

58. I like his chances of getting us out.....

....far more than than someone who has consistently voted FOR the war.

[msongs]

12. that is a good start nt

[readmoreoften]

31. And Edwards would've accomplished that as well. So. What is this great change?

[BlueStater]

8. I guess we can expect him to say "hope" and "change" about five billion more times

I'm sorry for seeming so nasty tonight but I'm really not happy about his victory. At all.

[jgraz]

10. Ugh. I really hope that changes.

:P

[Capn Sunshine]

27. Yeah, cause Hope and Change are such negative concepts

we sure don't want to see any of that, do we? Protect the status quo.

[readmoreoften]

32. Yeah. "Peace, Love, and the Gap" I loved that ad campaign...

:sarcasm:

Hope and change are empty words. What is your candidate going to change? WHAT STATUS QUO? You mean that stale old left-right debate? So that means he's a raging centrist. Great. How bold and original.

HYPE.

[danalytical]

13. That's my problem too

He's a great speaker when he has a written speech, and he certainly talks a lot about change. But Edwards TELLS me what EXACTLY he is going to do. If Obama would explain to me WHAT he would do differently I might support him, but right now i see another blowhard talking to the middle ground and pretending to be different. I want fucking substance. Give me REAL hope, not lip service. Will you break the insurance and corporate strongholds over my family? Or will you simply hope they will be on board for "change".

[killbotfactory]

15. An extremely open government

and a reversal of all of Bush's horrendous laws and executive orders, for starters.

[Egnever]

33. weew

For a second there I thought this board wasnt paying atention.

His plans to throw open the windows on our government alone will change the nation.

[IamyourTVandIownyou]

16. The Duarchy.

.

[mhatrw]

18. That is the Fortune 64,000 question. n/t

[Imagevision]

19. Anyone who finds Obama 'frustrating' should either stop drinking or start drinking...!

[jgraz]

39. I'm doing both in quick succession

:beer:

[Caseman]

20. I wonder the same thing and no Obamamite has answered so far...

...Because I am considering Obama... But I fear watching him in a debate with a Republican...

[emilyg]

25. As well you should.

[MS Liberal]

21. Change is not coming...

[emilyg]

26. Welcome to DU.

[madrchsod]

24. what will any of them "exactly" change

this will also be said of who ever wins the next state then the next....

[jgraz]

36. I'm pretty clear on what Edwards wants to change

Less power for corporations, more power for workers, troops home in 6-9 months. That's pretty clear.

[readmoreoften]

47. Since the explosion in Pakistan, Edwards is moving towards out of Iraq immediately.

Last night on ABC he said there is no military solution-- we need to be out of there. It was great.

[Skip Intro]

28. Good luck gettin' an answer to that one.

Ask about hope too, while you're at it.

[Carrieyazel]

29. All he does is say change and no specifics, so I don't know

[Caseman]

30. K & R

I really do want an answer.

[AtomicKitten]

34. Open government + An end to the war in Iraq = biggies for me.

Pronouncing nuclear correctly is just the frosting on the cake. Oh, he also advocates a global no nukes policy. That's pretty tasty.

[ellisonz]

35. I think y'all are way too invested in the media sterotype.

Pick your poison: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

:eyes:

[FrenchieCat]

37. First he's gonna give us millions of new voters.......like he did in Iowa

so that we can win a large majority......in both houses of congress...

and then he ends the Iraq War
Gives us health Care
appoint rational nominees to the FCC
Close corporate loopholes
investigates what happened that led to war in Iraq
Talk to countries that we are currently not talking to
work to reform our electronic voting system.....to make sure that there is a paper ballot
Appoint progressive Supreme court justices....

and on and on and on........

And so, it is not simply what he's gonna do, it's the fact that he will be able to get it done, instead of shouting about what needs to change from the bleachers!

When you can't get elected, you can't change shit.
Obama showed tonight how he can get that done....

[Carrieyazel]

40. And how do you know he can do all of those things?

He's never been an executive in his life, and won't have a clue how to get it done.

But he won't get elected, (Huckster will beat him) so I guess he won't have the chance to not get anything done.

[babylonsister]

43. You are delusional; I thought you'd fade away. Richardson is done, no?

Or are you just for anyone but Obama? You're rooting for Huck and think he will beat Obama? Bring on those debates!

[FrenchieCat]

44. Continue to shake your head in disbelief.......

and for you to think some fake ass clown who doesn't even believe in evolution will beat this constitutional law Harvard trained orator, you are in for a rude awakening.

Plus the Huskter has accepted maching funds, Obama hasn't. Obama will pulverize the Huskter. It will be a sight to see.

But just keep thinking like youre thinking. After the election, I will show you all of my journals where I was right on the money, and you should keep yours so that you can learn from your mistakes.

[TheWatcher]

54. I should preface this with I sincerily, DEEPLY, hope you are correct

But you ignore the threat Huckabee represents at your peril.

And then there is the problem with Fair Elections.....

[FrenchieCat]

57. You are right about "fair elections", and what Obama gives us

is numbers to large to "tamper" with the elections.

As he was a Vote Project organizer, I'm sure that one of the things that he will do when President is to look into our voting apparatus as well as push for a national voting holiday...or a two to three day voting situation....so that all who want to vote for Obama again in 2012 can. :)

[readmoreoften]

45. He's gonna do all that huh? Right.... /nt

[FrenchieCat]

49. Yes.....instead of just talking about it......and shaking his fist.

That is correct.

But remain skeptical. We wouldn't have a primary season otherwise.

[babylonsister]

42. The perception of the US with the asshole in charge, for starters?

Gimme a break. ANYONE would be better, and Obama might just be the best person to do that.
Shame on you for not seeing that. No, he's not the second coming, but he's a helluva lot better than what we've been used to. And yea, I bet he can pronounce just about any word the right way. :eyes:
And FTR, I'm DONE with Clintons, and I'm not alone apparently. Yet. Who knows.

[Seabiscuit]

46. He's hoping to prove he can win the White House with nothing more to his credit

than turning a tired, worn-out buzzword ("change") into not just his entire campaign slogan, but his entire, vapid platform.

[KittyWampus]

60. An Edwards supporter using the word "vapid" is highly ironic.

[Egnever]

48. lots of bitterness in this thread

Sorry to see it.

He has clear plans on opening up the government that will be revolutionary. Please try to get past the dissapointment and honestly try to look at some of the things he wants to do instead of just venting dishonest disapointment.

[eridani]

50. I think it's because a lot of people would like to see more of a fighting spirit

Why does he think that the economic dictators who run our society will let him get by with change, particularly if he is dependent on their money?

[Egnever]

51. If he is elected they cant stop him

A lot of what he wants to do to open up government can be done trhough executive order.

[eridani]

52. Well, at least he'll be more open to the opinions of the rest of us

I hope, anyway. I'm not comfortable with his slamming of "liberal special interests" myself.

[ronnykmarshall]

63. Which is why we have to fight for a stronger congress.

If Obama (or Clinton or Edwards) get elected they will face a pissed off GOP .... and we know what happened in the 90's.

[jgraz]

61. "Open government" is a bullet-point, not a platform

At some point, he's going to have to take on the tough issues like rolling back *'s tax cuts, reducing military spending and actually coming up with a plan for getting us the fark out of Iraq.

[Perry Logan]

55. With Zbigniew Brzezinski as his advisor, it sure as hell won't be foreign policy.

[ProSense]

56. Not everyone bought into the

new Edwards. They may see in Obama what they didn't see in Edwards.

[MethuenProgressive]

59. Link please, to the specifcs of Obama's "Change" platform?

So far all he has is chants of "I'm not Hillary", preacher style evangelical testifying, and some bad high school cheerleading as his platform.
How well will that play against the Republicans if we nominate him?

[laureloak]

62. Show us some substance, Obama.

What are your plans to CHANGE the world?? Tell us how! Else you're just blathering.