The first black nominee in the history of the United States has been selected.

Can I just say...

YAYYYYYYYY!

I second the motion of "YAAAAAY!" lmao : )
I definitely figured out just now, seeing this topic (shows how politically aware I am)... But yay! <3

Yay, and about a hundred things more. This is a great moment in our history and hopefully the beginning of a real change and something truly amazing.

Since I'm afflicted with political correctness, I think it's pretty cool we have a black nominee. I just wish his politics were actually as centrist as he pretends, and he wasn't so naïve re: international relations, because then I could actually vote for him and get to feel all warm and fuzzy.

Too bad I choose my candidates for the issues, not their skin color. Damn! Wish I were more racist.

Well, I wasn't going to rain on your parade but Sam already did so...

Results, not rhetoric.

The possibility that Obama can actually deliver is so low that you'd probably get hit by a falling angel first. Do you really think the people he insults during the campaign will bow to his agenda if he gets in? I doubt it. Not without the party leaders changing it on him first. Either way, his promises are pretty empty and he doesn't have much to fall back on.

I just lol'ed like no one's business? "hit by a falling angel," oh my god, that's amazing. marry me?

i could contribute something to this topic, but i think i am going to swear off political discussions from now on. they always turn ugly, and are pretty much pointless anyways.

It is not official that he has the nomination. Hilary Clinton has not announced her withdrawal from the race and thus it is not over. And for Obama to presume to announce his victory prematurely like this is just further proof of his arrogance. Ugh. There is no way I will be voting for him come November.

And before i get someone jumping down my throat about anything regarding race, I do not chose whom I am going to vote for based on anything except the words that come out of their mouths and their actions past and present. Obama's exaggerated aspirations do not impress me in the slightest and that is why I will not be voting for him, among other more specific reasons relating to his stance on certain political issues.

Obama had the nomination in the bag. He needed one state and he had it. So.....it was alright for him to pronounce it early.



But I'm a Republican.


And I'm too young to vote.



And I don't think Obama would last more than two years alive in office.


Why?

Too many white supremacists.

Well, personally I'm glad. I think it's awesome, and, being a democrat, I hope he wins. It would be quite a historical moment, the first non-white president. And I like him. So, my two cents.

Yes, it was too early to assume that he's won the nomination, but you can't blame that on his arrogance when you go to Google News and the first article reads "Sen. Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination and his place in the history books last night by becoming the first African American to win a major party's bid for the White House." You can't blame that on arrogance. And to clear it up, he did win in delegate count, but Clinton is still trying to decide whether or not she should take it to the convention because she believes that she won the popular vote.

Also, not everyone voting for Obama is voting for him due to his race, and that assumption kinda makes me mad. I'm a white female who will be voting for the first time- if I wasn't voting based on the issues, I'd vote for Clinton because I want a woman president. And for the record, Obama didn't start off insulting anyone and hasn't been running a smear campaign at all; the only negative comments he's made about people are in defense of things said about him.

Reading through this, it sounds really defensive, but I'm sneaking computer time right now so I can't really go through and edit myself like I'd want to. Also, I started a "Students for Obama" group at my school, read both of his books, and volunteered for his campaign- kind of passionate about it LOL

This issue is a issue that will be talked about ages to come. I can honestly say that I did not get in to the election until I hard about Obama running. Naturally I was like YAY a black president finally but I think this has a lot more than skin color in it.

The things Obama is saying are empty. Not because he wants them to be but he doesn't know how it works. Every president preachs about change in our nation and blah blah blah when actually they have no power what's so ever.

It the party that makes the decisions and carries them out. The president is just the guy they'll blame if it doesn't go there way.

But honestly I am loving the things Obama is saying. It's not hard to believe in change when you see so many things wrong with the us today. He's not challenging everything that the us holds dear. He's just giving us hope that we had lost during the bush reign.

I for one hope he wins not because he's black but because he is the first president I can actually believe in.

Obama has done a lot of things in office. Granted, a lot of people may find his policies empty, but he's done quite a bit of work in IL.

Additionally, if we're wanting a centrist president, that's something that we will never see. Ever. Reagan was considered to be too right-wing, Clinton was too left, both Bushes were considered to be too right-wing, and there are people who find Obama to be too left. That's something that we will have to pretty much suck up.

This is also his voting record. I would go off of this quite a bit more than anything.

A lot of people may not think that he's saying anything, but let's keep in mind - McCain isn't saying or doing much of anything either. He undermines his respect that he has for the troops when he didn't support the GI Bill penned by Jim Webb, and is also for making the troops have to serve more for them to see any college benefits.

He may win in part because he's black. But he may also lose in part because of his blackness. A lot is at stake here. Overall, it doesn't play a huge role, but in some states, it does.

Glassonion - this doesn't have anything to do with arrogance, and more of the fact that he had the delegate count. Unfortunately, the Primaries are less about the people and more about Superdelegates, and the Superdelegates wanted Obama. To pin that on him as a sign of arrogance is a misplaced insult to me. If you want arrogance, take a look at the Hillary Campaign, and her refusal to concede even after he won - it was only today that she finally threw in the towel.

Additionally, I'm much more fond of his desire to engage in diplomacy with some of the countries that we are on not-so-fuzzy terms with rather than what we've been dealing with for these past 8 years - which has been "Bomb first, allow some kids to die, and ask questions later AFTER things aren't in our favor."

Either way, people need to go out and vote this election. I have no respect for people who bitch, but when they have the option to voice their opinion in the forms of the polls, they don't do it. To be not of voting age is one thing, but to be of voting age, not vote, and then run your mouth about things when you had the chance to have your say is seriously ridiculous.

For those interested, I'm on Obama's official site but have yet to donate to the campaign- primarily because my debit card needs to be replaced and I'm doing that before I donate. This was the most recent message sent out-

I'm a member as well, and I hate those donation emails. :) But I am so glad that Hillary finally endorsed Obama.

It's about time.

It's good that Clinton finally realized that it was mathematically impossible for her to get the nomination.

Unfortunately, McCain more closely matches my political values. I just feel that the Democratic party's plan to leave the Iraq war is just too rushed. I'd rather we treated Iraq like we treat Japan. And to be honest, McCain's values will be less likely to eliminate the middle class.

But TBH, I wish that Romney got the nomination, because I'm kinda tired of Republicans who are poor public speakers fighting Democrats who have energetic and powerful public speakers.

Problem is that we can't treat one place like another place; that's what got us into this mess in the first place. Bush thought Iraq would be like West Germany and be gung ho that we "'liberated" them from Saddam. We all know how true that proved out to be. Treating Iraq like Japan would be a mistake. Japan's entire society hinged on the word of the one guy, the emperor and the occupation worked because he basically endorsed the US and told his people to behave. There's no such tradition in Iraq; they don't even consider themselves one people. No one ever thought Japan would break apart. Iraq might.

That said, trusting Obama to handle foreign policy is like handing a six year old a sledgehammer and telling him to go fix a leaky pipe. It isn't pretty. This is the same guy that shouted out over the news networks that he would bomb Pakistan. Brilliant. I don't care if you think it's a good idea or bad idea, it's stupid to the nth degree to blab about it. He basically handed all the extremists in the country pretext and talking points to urge little boys to attack us. Smart. This looks even more idiotic when you consider that Pakistan is considered to be an important ally with a leader the US is trying to prop up. It's counterproductive.

I'm a student of political science and Obama makes me cringe.



Oh and Carbohydrated, is that a proposal? :p

How much worse can we get in terms of foreign policy? Keep in mind that the current Bush administration is quite experienced in terms of foreign policy, yet it doesn't mean that they did the best job.

Arakis - I'm curious as to how McCain's policies are less likely to hurt the middle class.

ADDENDUM 6/10 - I love how no one has said anything to defend their position yet.