Obama Explains Why He Can Bring Change

[TheOperative]

It's true, the McCain campaign has co-opted his slogans. McCain even says regularly 'Change is Coming'. Obama has set the agenda and the tone of this campaign and that's why he's a good solid leader.

[bernlin2000]

I think this is why he is so appealing to younger voters like myself (I'm a college student): he wasn't really an active participant in the upheavals of the 60s and early 70s, he was too busy in elementary school and such. So he's a candidate that doesn't have those scars, and can transcend the bitterness of those times. However, at the same time, he is a beneficiary, as we all are, of those social movements. He appreciates all of the efforts that have gone into the way America is today.

[tvfilm]

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PAY FOR CHANGE?

[Notfreeloader]

MITT SMARTER THAN U

[asdfben42]

Obama's absolutely right about timing being as important as individual figures changing political direction, and I think he's right that America needs someone like him. His commentary on being the first post-baby boomer presidential candidate is very valid. I'm ready to see this guy pull out a huge win today.

[Genkimark]

If you count the time when George Bush (the father) served as Vice-President and President in the White House, this country has had either a Bush or a Clinton running the Administration for 28 years!!

Do we really need this discordant dynasty to continue for another four (or even eight) years with yet another Clinton??

The time is NOW to effect true, progressive change for a new generation. No one in the race, on either side of the aisle, personifies that better than Barack Obama.

[funkalunatic]

Yes I do. A Hitler comparison on Obama's ability to tap into the masses is perfectly valid, just ill-advised in a race where the voters you're trying to capture aren't known for their abilities to rationally evaluate such a comparison.

[t0msawyer77]

ROFLMAO

[bernlin2000]

Yeah, but did Hitler use sound reasoning and facts to get people on board with him? Blaming Jews for everything wrong with Germany may have seemed reasonable to many Germans at the time, but there was no facts to support this. This is why it is not a fair or valid comparison. I don't support Obama because I've fallen in love with his rhetorical style (it is very good). I support him because I think he will bring honest, good ideas to politics, and will be a strong, sensible leader.

[funkalunatic]

I would prefer that he not compare himself to Hitler because then idiots like you would interpret it wrongly. With Reagan he at least has a chance of gaining more idiots than he alienates. Also, Reagan's more relevant, being a still-popular US president.

[funkalunatic]

And as far as other choices go, I don't think there are plenty of them, at least not since before Reagan, and comparisons to MLK, JFK, and RFK have already been made. The comparison to Reagan symbolizes that he's willing to reach out to Republicans to find common ground despite ideological differences, which is the whole freaking point of his candidacy.

[funkalunatic]

What the hell are you talking about? Maybe you meant to respond to another post, because what you wrote has nothing to do with what I wrote. Do you not understand the difference between making a comparison on a single attribute and saying that Reagan was a good president?  They're not the same thing, you know. Obama has decried Reagans policies on many an occasion.

[bernlin2000]

I think he acknowledges that the Reagan movement though was a healthy one, much better than Bush. Of course he disagrees on policy issues: they were in separate parties that have many differences in opinion on many fundamental issues. But Reagan was truly a uniting force as well, he didn't talk down to people, or made people feel like it was his way or the highway. It was this outreach mentality that we're missing right now.

[marytnurse]

I remember the same time as waterforpeople, but I remember it differently. I have always had democratic leanings. I remember AT THE TIME thinking how wonderful Reagan was, and it started out with me thinking he was going to be a problem. It's ended up there, but during that time, he brought a shift in the rhetoric, and was refreshing. I didn't feel disparaged. I am not sure what interview you listened to.

[waterforpeople]

Ronald Reagan is a horible example of change...unless you mean deficits, unemployment, dessimation of the environment, homophobia, and selling weapons to terrorists. And yes, nice way to disparage an entire generation of Americans who lived in the 70s and weren't attending "love ins" but were working and raising families as well just as we are today. These comments were not appreciated by me.

[funkalunatic]

What makes you think he's disparaging an entire generation? Listen to 4:25.

[ponchocam]

Why don't other democrats talk like this?

[t0msawyer77]

Hopefully no decent person of any affiliation would want to compare themselves to reagan unless it was to say they are the antithesis of that low life pos.

reagan was one of the worst presidents ever:

massive deficit spending

war on drugs

iran contra

etc

etc

etc

[funkalunatic]

Reagan had horrible politics, nearly opposite of Obama's, but he was an example of a president that tapped into popular sentiment to bring about change, which was Obama's point.

[t0msawyer77]

So was Hitler, does that make him a good role model, one that progressive leaders should pay homage to?

The changes reagan begat are the underpinnings to our current state of government of the corporation, by the corporation and for the corporation.

Obama was incredibly stupid or incredibly naive to reference reagan. Another example of how the dems cannot get away from rethuglican talking points, rethuglican "heroes" etc.

Cross him off the list of viable candidates.

[funkalunatic]

He wasn't praising the policies of Reagan. The comparison was perfectly valid. Hitler would have been too. The difference is that Hitler and Reagan both tapped into popular sentiment to bring about negative change, while Obama is bringing about positive change.

The Democrats stupid enough to think that Obama is giving blanket praise to Reagan are probably also the ones who LIKE Reagan - the so-called "Reagan democrats" who didn't look any deeper than a slick smile in the 80's.

[t0msawyer77]

Your comment is idiotic. He does nothing to distance himself from reagan, thereby inviting comparison. Obviously he wants peeps to believe that he is like reagan. This is bankrupt in the extreme.

By your "logic" he could have drawn the comparison to hitler. Would that be laudable? A reason to consider him a viable candidate for president???

There are plenty of leaders who used popular sentiment to achieve laudable goals. His pandering to those who like reagan, makes me sick.

[funkalunatic]

What have I said that's false? He invites the comparison because he wants people to believe that he's like Reagan inasmuch as he actually is like Reagan. If people like Reagan for his ability to tap into popular sentiment, then they should like Obama for that same reason. It's not "pandering" to appeal to Reaganites - they are of the constituency he's trying to unite. Obama is running for President of the United States, not President of Progressives and Everybody Else can go Fuck Themselves.