Temperment and experience.

[cali]

I want a president who can keep her/his cool. Barack Obama has demonstrated throughout this endless campaign that he can do that. Hillary Clinton has demonstrated the opposite.

I want a president who's reflective rather than reactive.

I want a president who has good judgment but who can listen to other points of view.

I want a president who isn't motivated by having to prove that he/she is "tough"- tough on international relations, tough on crime, etc.

John McCain has decades of experience in federal government. So what? He lacks the temperment and judgment to be president.

Hillary Clinton has more years in federal government than Barack Obama, and many years more as a close observer of it. She lacks the temperment and judgment to be president.

Barack Obama may have only 3+ years in federal gov't but he's demonstrated that he has both the temperment and judgment to sit in the oval office. The way he's run his campaign, his recognition that Iraq was totally misguided and the way he's responded to contentious issues that have arisen during the primaries reflect a temperment that is suited to dealing with crisis. Experience is not the be all and end all. Without good judgment and a temperment suited to meeting a crisis with equanimity, it's meaningless.

[flor de jasmim]

1. Not to mention that he speaks to the world in intelligent, thoughtful sentences!

[cali]

2. Yes, that's a big deal- particularly after almost 8 years of

the stunningly inarticulate bush.

[Skidmore]

3. And treats the citizens as adults.

I'm so sick of being dictated to and lectured to like a three year old, something we've gotten from the Rs this past decade and which Clinton has a tendency to do as well. We are capable of understanding what is happening in our nation and we are equally capable of making choices about how to use our resources and rights.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

4. You have set your wants too low. We can do much better.

Well spoken and looking "purty" aren't enough for this job. Someone that is 10x smarter, has 20x more experience, and has good, solid ideas to fix this country is right before your eyes if you could just turn off the klieg lights of cultism. There is more to running this country than a fan club groupie fest. Haven't you learned anything from the last eight years?

Good man, yes, best candidate, no.

Just to get the feeding frenzy going on a Sunday morning. I know the Obamamanics don't usually need chum in the water to go off on their rants but I thought you might have had a hard Saturday night and needed a kick start. Your welcome.

[shadowknows69]

7. Who is this svior of a candidate

Because it definitely isn't Hillary Clinton, and that's been proven time and time again in this race.

[cali]

8. I realize that you're responding to another poster

but my OP addresses the qualities that I believe are important in a good president. I believe that Obama has demonstrated that he has those qualities. Hillary Clinton has demonstrated that she lacks some critical components that comprise those qualities. Does having good judgment and a suitable temperment indicate that Obama will be a successful president? Not necessarily. But it's almost certain that someone lacking them, like Hillary Clinton and John McCain, won't.

[Exilednight]

17. Who is this candidate you speak of? Obama is the only person left in the Democratic primary .......

with the most years of holding elected office.

[ruby slippers]

5. and I haven't seen him cry yet....

[parasim]

6. Totally agree.

I am amazed at how Obama has kept his cool throughout every big and little thing that has come up in this primary season.

As for experience, well, he has many, many years of experience being a decent, intelligent human being that cares as much for his fellow man as he does for his family and himself. He seems to be above politics. When he talks, it's not like he is saying something he has memorized or something he has practiced, he just talks. He's stern when he needs to be. He's funny when the moment calls for humor.

He's Mr. Cool.

[cali]

9. I don't think he's above politics at all.

In fact, I think he's a completely political animal. He has great political instincts and he's a fighter- in a very smart way.

[parasim]

10. Yeah, you're right.

I meant above politics as usual. You're right he has incredible political instincts. I guess I'm just not used to smart politics.

[POAS]

11. Just sdpeaking for myself here but

what the above poster said resonates with me as well. Not that Obama is "above" politics but that he gives off an image thathe isn't JUST a political animal.

I think you, CALI, pointed that out in your OP here in that you referred to him as (I think) thoughtful. He doesn't SEEM to be spouting talking points. Instead he responds to questions and situations thrown at him with thoughtfulness which seems born of actually hearing what is being said or seeing what has been done rather than going through a mental Rolodex of canned responses.

[SparkyMac]

12. Either that ... or he hasn't figured out what's going on

I want a president who can keep her/his cool. Barack Obama has demonstrated throughout this endless campaign that he can do that.

[cali]

13. I have no idea what you're trying to say.

[SparkyMac]

14. I was thinking about the poem "If".

"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs..."


In such a case maybe the reason you are cool and keeping your head is because you don't have enough sense to see what danger is lurking.

Just a comment ... don't take it too seriously :-)

[Honeycombe8]

15. I second that emotion. nt

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. K&R

[Meshuga]

18. The way Obama is running this campaign and his conduct so far

demonstrates that he is ready to be a president and that he will do a great job.