I'm on the fence. Edwards or Obama?

All right. My vote won't make a difference, as I live in Oregon, but my money might.

I have $100 bucks to donate to either Obama or Edwards, not a significant amount I know. However, I am still not convinced of either.

First of all, I am neither naive or lacking in intelligence. I tend to try hard to believe in the power of possibility, but being 40+ I have become adept at cynicism.

I am drawn to Obama's message of hope and the openness and truthfulness of his character. I am concerned by the grayness of his policy and not knowing how tough he will be when confronted by the Corporate juggernaut and their political branch, the Rethuglicans.

I am drawn to Edwards because he is willing and ready to take on the Corp Jug and the Republicans. I also know that 4 years ago he was tested and did well. Edwards is also been the leader of the pack with progressive ideas. Frankly, he has been way ahead of the curve on issues.

I am concerned about (here I cringe, knowing all too well my racist and misogynistic legacy given to me by my parents, grandparents, History classes and the American Media) the message an Edwards candidacy means in this historic election. I also am concerned by the missteps that Edwards has made. Though I think he is well-intentioned, I still have a seed of distrust for his history.

I know this is a struggle for many at DU. I have tremendous respect for all the candidates (including Hillary). I would like to know what swayed you over to Obama.

Thank you for taking any time you have.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet90/sponsor/OBAMA.html

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/07/29/us/politics/20070730_OBAMA_GRAPHIC.html

He worked on the videotape interrogtion bill for months, worked with all interested parties including law enforcement, and passed it with 100% support. That's a bill they said couldn't be passed.

Ethics reform in Illinois and in DC.

I think his record speaks for itself.

If you want your money to go to someone who has a good chance to win then Barack is your man.

Sen. Edwards is a good man and I would consider supporting him also if he had a chance at the nomination.

He has not had a job since he lost his senate seat. He had spent the majority of 5 years campaigning in Iowa and came in second. He came in third in the state he was born in. He could not deliver the state he represented in the '04 election. Besides the fact that he could not hold his senate seat.

He is a good man but he loses to many elections to risk the white house on someone who just can't seem to win. I have little doubt that he would have a cabinet position in an Obama administration.


Anyways, welcome to the Obama group and good luck with whoever you chose.

In these times we need a good image and good relationship to other nations. We have long overdue bridges to rebuild and credibility to re-establish. The Bush administration has been a debacle on this front.

Obama seems to have the ability to do this more than the other two top candidates. I formerly supported Biden because of his foreign relations experience. I believe Obama would make use of people like Biden and many others who really know what's going on in the world, and also believe he's got the ability to build those bridges personally. He has a multi-cultural background himself, and would be sensitive enough and wise enough to restore our credibility. He's a listener and a thinker, not an ideologue.

I don't see Edwards as being that multi-faceted, nor is he particularly focused on how we get along with the rest of the world. With him it is populism all the way and his interests are centered on home and short-term problems. He needs to show us more vision, if he has it. He is a flat speaker, kind of repetitive and boring rather than inspirational, to me. He hasn't shown much ability to sway enough people to win elections, so I have to conclude that he would not be an inspiring leader either. Something's missing; he's adequate but not presidential material in my opinion.

You don't mention Hillary, so no need to comment about her specifically. I think the world would see her as an extension of Bill Clinton, whatever that would mean.

Electing Barack would send a signal to the world that we are ready to reengage with it in a unique way, and that the ugly prejudice we have seen is not our true nature, but a very nasty sub-group that the rest of us shun.

Barack's instincts are compassionate and progressive. This is a man who could have been a corporate attorney, a televangelist, a promoter. Instead he bypassed the easy ways of making money and went into public service.

There was a lot more courteous and heartfelt response from the Edwards camp in the 5 hours that I have posted this. For passion and activism, my money goes to Edwards.

However, I will be more than happy to vote Obama in the general. We are truly blessed to have such great candidates.

So, there are more Edwards folks hanging out in their DU group on a Sunday afternoon than Obama folks.

I was at an event for my Congressman, Joe Sestak. Now I need to get going on the updates to the party websites I maintain.

I'm sorry I missed your brief window for telling you why I support Obama. I'll spend a few seconds on it anyway:

Number one, his emphasis - more than I've seen from any other candidate - on open government and citizen participation. With Obama it is about "we" not about "I". Secondly, though it is poo-pooed by many at DU, I am a fan of the bipartisan approach, where you try to get all the concerns and perspectives about an issue on the table, and work together for the best win-win situation you can. Win-win for average people that is, of course, not for the ultra-wealthy and ultra-powerful. Obama has acknowledged that it will be a challenge to reduce the influence of the powerful on our government, but he seems determined to do it. Third, I especially like that he is willing to talk to people of opposing beliefs, and put his beliefs out there to them while listening respectfully to theirs.

Well I'll just leave it at that since I do have a lot of work still to do tonight and it sounds like you already made your decision. Good luck and I hope you stop by again sometime when you want to give it a little more time.

Well yes, I thought that was clear. Of course you're going to get more response from them.

I will be appealing to both your idealism and pragmatism.

1. Obama simply has the best oratorial skills of the field, which bodes well for him in this TV-driven political world. Everyone who sees Obama on TV likes him, including Independents and Republicans. Obama translates well on our #1 medium (on YouTube as well) for even casual viewers, and is best equipped to speak for our progressive ideals. He actually gets people on his side with liberal ideals by talking about it with a conservative temperament. Notice that he is a full out liberal (as Sandnsea showed with her links), yet he can entice people not from the Dem party to consider his positions like universal healthcare, combatting global climate change with a mandatory cap & trade system, get out of Iraq, and restore America's moral standing in the world. He can persuade those who would not be persuaded by the others in the field. The president appeals from his/her bully pulpit. Obama has a natural talent of being candid and eloquent, and I think the American people AS A WHOLE will respond to him.

2. Obama is honest. This is important for me. His legislative record in the IL state senate as well as the U.S. Senate is in line with the values he talks about. That is not true of all the candidates. His unity message is not an empty one -- he actually has a record of getting through liberal laws by reaching out to Republicans and persuading them to join him. He is not a slash and burn politician, he does not seek power for power's sake, and he does not want to engage in the ugly politics that we have withstood during the Bush years.

3. Obama's unlikely story is an inspiration to America to be all that it could be. The ugliness I just discussed turns off so many; he fights back against that ugliness and TRANSCENDS it.

4. Obama showed this week that he is tough enough for the job as President. The Clintons are testing him, and he has shown that he can keep his cool throughout what were horrid attacks. That matters when considering him during a time of crisis in the WH.

5. Obama is opposed to torture and is for habeas corpus. He will restore America's place in the world as a defender of human rights.

6. The people surrounding Obama, including a first rate foreign policy team, is a major big deal. The fact that John Kerry and Ted Kennedy endorsed him not only shows how impressive Obama is, but that the progressive caucus in the Senate will be more in line with an Obama presidency.

However, what is done is done.

Like I said, I will vote for Obama in the General. I'll even clinch my butt cheeks and vote for Hillary.

You definitely appeal to my pragmatism. John Edwards will be lucky to pull off any primary victories. However, the other side of the pragmatic coin is that keeping John in the race keeps Obama and Hillary leaning left to appeal to the progressive caucus. As long as he maintains 15% then he has a shot at influencing the party platform.

You also appeal to my idealism. Obama is a great candidate.

However, I must admit to having a lot of anger towards the currently entrenched power in Washington. I am one of those who saw BushCO for what it was at the very beginning, still believes that Gore won in 2000, has been against the war from day one and (as a Persian Gulf 1 veteran) has always known that this was a power grab by the Military Industrial Complex allied with Big Oil. It has driven me to intense bouts of depression over the last 6 years.

So I am not ready for bi-partisanship. I mentally understand its value. Emotionally, I want those F***ers tarred and feathered and rode out of town on a rail.

I trust JE that he is going to pursue these guys. At this point, I think Obama will let it all slide for the sake of getting along.

I am sure there is a middle ground, but Justice needs to be served for all of my dead and wounded comrades in the military, all the Iraqis that have been killed and all the positive social and environmental changes that have been killed by this War-monger and his Corporate tax give aways.

at The University of Chicago Law School. It's always great to get a first hand account who knew a politician before they became famous:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/20/12119/122

But I'm glad to have seen all the cogent and heartfelt responses on this thread anyway. I'm already planning to vote for Obama, but this kind of discussion is always useful and positive. Thank you, everyone, and I hope CaptJasHook will keep reading. Whether or not you feel like your vote "counts", it is always important to make it the one that best reflects your conscience and your vision for your country. And I say this as a MA voter who has never felt her primary vote "counted" until this year!

I also applaud CaptJasHook for caring enough to seek out information to help him make his decision, by the way!!

I've been struggling with this issue and I need the someone to tell me where I'm wrong. I watched the South Carolina primaries with interest and I was much dismayed by the race card being played. Now I know most of it was elevated by the media, but I cannot get past the idea that the Obama campaign is also using it when convenient, perhaps not so much by Barack as by his surrogate wife Michelle. I read the post on Michelle Obama Finds Her Voice Too and she refers to herself as the "little black girl from the south side of Chicago" and that she thinks "things have gotten continually worse over my lifetime" and I find both comments extremely racist in tone and absolutely false. How one can say things are worse for her when she did come from the south side of Chicago, went to Princeton, made $300,000 plus, lives in a million dollar house.....Please! The Clintons are many things (I currently am not on board with any of the three top Democrats), but racist is not one of them. If they belonged to an all White church, that would be fair play, but an all black church is out of bounds. You can't have it both ways...
When you speak of a blind America, my thoughts are you line up men, women, boys, girls, black, white, brown and you are judged based on who you are, no preference must be given to the color of your skin. I sense Michelle, like Oprah, are harboring a sense of injustice from the past and want to resurrect the Civil Rights fights of the 60's. That is a dangerous platform and one we do not want to fight.
In closing, it's ISSUES, ISSUES, ISSUES I want to hear about. How will you battle the Republican's "Empty Vessel" comment regarding Barack Obama, that he's only about hope and not substance.

And secondly, the race code language started with the Clinton campaign way back in December when Clinton surrogates started taking what was known for years from Obama's book -- that he had tried drugs when he was a teenager -- into a Fox News style question: Did Obama deal drugs? Sorry, but that is race code language -- exactly when has anyone suggested that Bill Clinton, Al Gore, or John Kerry, all who have admitted druge use, might have dealt drugs?

It went downhill from there. It ALL originated from the Clinton campaign. Ted Kennedy sure as heck thinks that.

In terms of substance, I think you need to take a second look at Obama's speech that he gave in SC following his victory. Really read it: it takes his basic message of change, unity and transformation and weaves it into the substantive issues which are the bedrock of what we Democrats want to change: healthcare, help the middle class and the poor, get out of Iraq, clean energy.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/CGxdg

I read the speech. We know what we're up against, we know all things are possible...I still didn't see anything substantive in that speech. As far a the drug usage issue....the Republican's are going to use it....it is what it is. He needs to take it head on.
You still have not addressed the issue of Michelle and her talking points. I am open minded, but I need a direct answer. I'll be honest, I'm asking these questions, because I meet people everyday that do not trust him. They find him evasive.

Since the Kennedy speech, I must go w/Hillary over Obama. No one responds to Obama's playing of the race card when convenient. The arrogance I saw w/Obama at the state of the union, confirms my fears of giving this man power....He isn't what he says he is!