NY Times Article: Behind the Curtain

I agree with this article... and don't know who I'll vote for.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/opinion/27herbert.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

By BOB HERBERT
Published: November 27, 2007
A friend of mine, talking about the Democratic presidential candidates, tossed out a wonderful mixed metaphor: “This is awfully weak tea to have to hang your hat on.”

The notion that Bush & Co. had fouled things up so badly for Republicans that just about any Democrat could romp to victory in 2008 was never realistic. What’s interesting now, with the first contests just weeks away, is the extent to which Democratic voters are worried about the possibility that none of their candidates have the stuff to take the White House.

This election, the most important in decades, cries out for strong leadership. The electorate is upset, anxious and hungry for change. But “weak tea” is as good a term as any to describe what the Democrats are offering.

Hillary Clinton is the cautious, rigidly programmed candidate who, in the view of most voters, will say whatever the moment demands. Spontaneous she ain’t. You can just picture her cross-examining advisers and prowling through polling data to determine whether she’s for or against driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants.

Barack Obama has the incandescent smile, and the personality to go with it. Oprah loves him, and a lot of campuses are wild for him. But you still wonder if there’s any there there.

His is the make-nice candidacy, no sharp edges. But it’s one thing to offer yourself as the agent of change, and quite another to answer the obvious question, “Change to what?”

John Edwards has been the most forceful of the so-called top-tier candidates. But his plan from the beginning was to move to the left of Senator Clinton, never expecting to find Senator Obama happily patrolling that progressive, antiwar region.

Mr. Obama had barely stenciled his name on his Senate office door before grabbing his hat and announcing he was running for president. That was faster than even Mr. Edwards’s first, lightning-quick decision to seek the highest office in the land.

The problem for voters is that very little leadership has emerged from the many months of frenetic Democratic fund-raising and politicking.

For all the noise and incessant posturing, we still don’t have a clear sense of where Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or any of the others would take the country.

Bush-bashing is not enough. Unless one of the Democratic candidates finds the courage to step up and offer a vision of an American future so compelling that voters head to the polls with a sense of excitement and great expectation, the Republican Party could once again capture the White House (despite its awful performance over the past eight years) with its patented mixture of snake oil and demagoguery.

The G.O.P. game plan is already being pieced together. The White House hopes to inoculate Republican candidates on the Iraq war issue by bringing home a significant number of combat troops in the middle of the general election. And the demagogic issue of choice for 2008 is immigration.

The Willie Horton ugliness of 1988 will be like nothing compared with the concerted attack to be unleashed by the G.O.P. on illegal immigrants next year.

The Democrats will have to figure out a way to counter that with an appeal to the better angels of our nature, and that will require courage.

The need to offer an honest vision that is almost electric in its intensity is especially important for Senators Clinton and Obama. Both have to rally enough voters to overcome deep wells of prejudice in this society. That can’t be done by referencing a résumé, or in a nine-second response to a question from Wolf Blitzer.

The American public, tired of war and economically insecure, longs for a leader who will tell the truth and offer a way out of the current morass.

A Democrat can win with a realistic plan for exiting Iraq and, more important, a full-blown economic strategy that addresses the growing anxiety over the fading American dream.

This debilitating anxiety is fed by an uncertain job market; by the housing crisis and the humongous debt that is smothering the middle class; by the long-term erosion of health and pension benefits; by the increasing cost of higher education; and so forth.

It is this spreading anxiety that makes it so easy for the demagogues to gin up the rage against foreigners.

A Democrat who makes a believable case that these problems can be dealt with effectively — and who asks the public to roll up its sleeves and join in such an effort — can win.

But that’s not what we’re getting. Not so far. And maybe it’s not necessary. Maybe the economy will be so bad next year that a Democrat will win in any event. But that’s not the kind of tea you want to hang your hat on.

 

Good piece Moskvichka. Now if the candidates can face the reality of a Russian power? The elections will be rigged for sure.

 

Great article. But the simple reason why the Democrats will not win is because this country is not ready for a black or woman president. Plan and simple.

 

Not to attack, but I resent that sentiment. A lot of Americans may be ignorant, but if you know what you are doing, you can show them the light. I get tired of hearing America is not ready for this or that. America has never been ready for change. Change has always happened to America. Every invention has always been met with a certain level of resistance ( people who think the idea is stupid and not possible). It takes a bold and courageous person to push such ideas through. That's why it's called being innovative.

 

Your right. But "people" are creatures of habit and a huge segment of them don't like change. There a large segment who are bothered by I/R dating, having a woman (or minority) as their boss, and immigrants (hispanics, europeans, whatever) coming to the U.S. "taking their" jobs. Sad, but true.

 

Well it is what is it. If Obama wins it would be a disaster for Black america and america as a whole. For one the death threats would pour in everyday and I doubt that he would live through his term. There would be a backlash against blacks in general. More hate crimes etc.
He would not have any real power. it would just be a mess.

 

Wow, Sneak! Your post hit me like a ton of bricks!

I really hope your wrong...

 

No, I disagree. At first there will be some naysayers, but people will eventually get used to him. Like I said before, what you see everyday (whether you like it or not) becomes your norm.

Let's face it, there has never been shortage of hatred towards any American President. Obama or whoever wins will not be any different. I will actually go as far as saying having a black/woman president will force some people to reexamine the way they define themselves.

 

I disagree with the pessimism here. This is the same thing our adversaries have been trying to see us for decades. "You gotta shuffle along, boy!...Its too much change to fast."

We are living in a time where this nation doesn't have a choice. This nations needs some serious structural change or its going to die. If Obama can bring that change, and I say if, we'd be fools not to take it.

The thing is, and why I'm not supporting another candidate in the Democratic camp instead of Barack Obama, I don't see that change in his proposals. At least, I don't see the changes I wish to see...But that's one man opinion I could be wrong.

Nonetheless, If he wins, it won't stop the world. I'll do my part to help him, if he does.

 

considering what we've had in the white house the last 8 years....none of the democratic candidates can screw things up any worse than that...


Hilary is the best politician of the group but she would have the hardest time getting political moderates on her side...she is more divisive than Edwards or Obama....a presidential race that the Democrats should win with relative ease...would become a tight race..that would come down to one or two states...much like in 2000...

Obama may not generate as much loyalty in his own party...making it tougher for him to win the nomination....but in the general election...he poses a more significant challenge for the GOP.....his Republican opponent would likely have more experience...but that would also mean that they were apart of all of the bad decisions made under the current administration...the opposition isn't going to want to attack him full force because if they do...they would look cheap....Hilary has an advantage nationally..but in the New Hampshire and Iowa polls where people have seen the candidates up close....Barack is quickly closing the gap....the more Hilary is pressured...the likely she is to resort to mud slinging

Too many blacks insist on not voting for Obama...because he isn't "black" enough....typically its the older blacks who hold this point of view...they say they aren't just going to vote for him because he's black....some blacks are going to fall victim to the "White man's ice is colder" theory..

 

I don't think it is going to be an issue with Obama because I think Hillary will get the Democratic nomination