Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov
You've totally convinced me with your sound logic and reasoning.
You should certainly post here more often with insightful posts like these.
No problem. I feel honored to have such an influence on your political views.
Lebezniatnikov
Whatever experience you believe Barack has had on foreign policy, I have to say, I am very comfortable with the idea of having Susan Rice as the next US Secretary of State.
LazFX
shapes
He's now friends with a terrorist!
Lebezniatnikov
quote:
Originally posted by LazFX
Good find. That speech is every bit as impressive now as it was four years ago (WOW, can't believe it was that long ago).
jerZ07002
quote:
Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov
Good find. That speech is every bit as impressive now as it was four years ago (WOW, can't believe it was that long ago).
he's a great public speaker, but he really isn't saying anything groundbreaking. it's the same thing from every politican's mouth, the only difference is that it sounds better from his.
Q5echo
quote:
Originally posted by jerZ07002
he's a great public speaker, but he really isn't saying anything groundbreaking. it's the same thing from every politican's mouth, the only difference is that it sounds better from his.
exactly. this is how it's so easy for people to mindlessly project their particular Presidential wants and desires onto him rather than seeing him for who he really is.
the reality is he's no different politically than Ted Kennedy. hardly a true agent of change.
Lebezniatnikov
quote:
Originally posted by jerZ07002
he's a great public speaker, but he really isn't saying anything groundbreaking. it's the same thing from every politican's mouth, the only difference is that it sounds better from his.
Which is why he is much more effective as a politician - his words aren't merely hollow, they inspire action. If his words affect change then he is by definition a change agent, regardless of whether or not the actual rhetoric is innovative.
Lebezniatnikov
quote:
Originally posted by Q5echo
exactly. this is how it's so easy for people to mindlessly project their particular Presidential wants and desires onto him rather than seeing him for who he really is.
the reality is he's no different politically than Ted Kennedy. hardly a true agent of change.
Not necessarily - depends on the issue. His foreign policy platform is drastically different than any Presidential ticket that's made it out of the Primaries in a long time - I'd say it bears the strongest resemblance to the Carter campaign "lead by principle" kind of platform. Free from the constraints of the Cold War, America has the political will to focus on becoming a moral leader in the world rather than a projector of hard power - Obama's foreign policy staff have consistently advocated for that all their lives, and they've finally found a candidate who echoes the same sentiments.
Though I have to admit, I'm still pretty steamed about Samantha Power being forced out, and I do hope that it won't bar her from being included in his administration should he win in November. Power, Rice, and Brzezinski (and possibly Biden and Lugar) would make a pretty formidable foreign policy team.
jerZ07002
quote:
Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov
Which is why he is much more effective as a politician - his words aren't merely hollow, they inspire action. If his words affect change then he is by definition a change agent, regardless of whether or not the actual rhetoric is innovative.
perhaps, but at the end of the day i want to see results. i don't care that he inspires kids to vote, i want to see him bring about real change. he says it, but i don't bite too easily. all that said, i would prefer him over a republican, just not Hilary.
EDIT: i do like his foreign policy stance. it will be a pretty drastic departure from recent American foreign policy.
Lebezniatnikov
quote:
Originally posted by jerZ07002
perhaps, but at the end of the day i want to see results. i don't care that he inspires kids to vote, i want to see him bring about real change. he says it, but i don't bite too easily. all that said, i would prefer him over a republican, just not Hilary.
EDIT: i do like his foreign policy stance. it will be a pretty drastic departure from historical American foreign policy.
Of course at the end of the day that's a judgment call. His political track record is not as extensive as the other candidates... but. The fact that he has dedicated his life to community activism is encouraging to me. That, and I've read his memoirs and it comes across as more sincere than the rhetoric of other politicians.
Obama actually reminds me a lot of Senator Paul Wellstone at times, and as a child of Minnesota, that is a very positive association for me.
And I'm obsessed with his foreign policy team. I really want Susan Rice as the next Secretary of State - the more I see/read of her the more amazing I think she is. And there's rumblings about Joe Biden as the VP, and somebody like Richard Lugar as CIA Director... or even Colin Powell as Secretary of Defense. I get a strong feeling that Obama would reach across the aisle for at least one high-profile cabinet post.
jerZ07002
quote:
Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov
Of course at the end of the day that's a judgment call. His political track record is not as extensive as the other candidates... but. The fact that he has dedicated his life to community activism is encouraging to me. That, and I've read his memoirs and it comes across as more sincere than the rhetoric of other politicians.
Obama actually reminds me a lot of Senator Paul Wellstone at times, and as a child of Minnesota, that is a very positive association for me.
And I'm obsessed with his foreign policy team. I really want Susan Rice as the next Secretary of State - the more I see/read of her the more amazing I think she is. And there's rumblings about Joe Biden as the VP, and somebody like Richard Lugar as CIA Director... or even Colin Powell as Secretary of Defense. I get a strong feeling that Obama would reach across the aisle for at least one high-profile cabinet post.
I like that he was the editor of the Harvard Law Review and a constitutional law professor at Chicago law school. but something just doesn't feel right for me.
