<p>As an adult, I do not understand his popularity. He is too inexperienced and offers little in the way of detailed solutions or programs. Hopefully, he will accept a slot as President-in-Training as Hillary's V-P running mate. I do, however, think that he is a great role model, a brilliant speaker and highly intelligent. Whatever happened to Colin Powell?</p>
<p>Great speeches and rhetoric will inspire the masses, but it will not sway the special interests and lobbyists he wishes to stop who are motivated by greed.</p>
<p>A Hilary/Obama ticket would be great, but I don't think Obama wants an Obama/Hillary ticket based on his response from the California debate (or Texas debate, I forget).</p>
<p>^ which is unfortunate because I think the two of them incorporated in one way or another to run against McCain will give them a boost and an advantage that may actually help them win the Presidency.</p>
<p>Some of us have no attraction to Obama. Hillary has more expierance and is tougher even though she's an old hag. I was a Romney person but now that he's dropped out I guess im for McCain, but Hillary would be a close second. She's more conservative than McCain lol.</p>
<p>I feel like Obama is a fresh, young person who actually is willing to listen to people's voices, not just special interests. Also, I like how he is willing to go as far as possible in confronting economic, political, and social issues and come up with possible solutions to the problems. (such as proposal to reforms in health care, Iraq, etc.) I like Hilary too, but I feel like Barack is much more energetic and possesses stronger leadership abilities.</p>
<p>His policies on education don't make sense. He plans to have a program to recruit more teachers by giving bonuses for working in high-need areas... But these "high-need areas" are suffering from a lack of competent teachers as it is, and it makes no sense to send a constant stream of inexperienced teachers that desperately need people who know what they're doing. And, I'm sorry, but his emphasis on Community Service looks wasteful. He promises a $4000 tax credit in exchange for doing 100 hours of community service in college. I'm sorry, but that can be accomplished by pretty much anyone (not at MIT), and that's a lot of money. Where is the money for this and the health care and the teacher reward programs coming from? (Though as a future diplomat, his plan to increase the size of the diplomatic corps is nice.)</p>
<p>Personally, I think he'd make a good VP: all the VP has to do is look pretty and make nice speeches praising the President. Considering a lot of people (apparently) flock to Obama because of his looks, and he knows a lot about making inspiring but meaningless speeches, he'd be the perfect running mate.</p>
<p>Although Obama may be more energetic and charismatic, I just feel that in this day in age we need more than that. We need experience, and there is no way around that. Matters are too trivial to be experimented with. Our economy is already in a recession and we need someone who knows how to rectify this situation, not someone who will apply "change" and have it fail. This is not only a stab at Obama, but for all of the candidates. Like anything in this world, the best way to apply yourself to a situation is by being there, practicing, and having experience. It's just common sense.</p>
<p>I really do appreciate Obama's reach to the youth and even if he does not win nominee, I still want to hear more from him. However, I just feel that right now he is not the right fit to be our next president.</p>
<p>I agree with ZamZam. I am really against his policy on education, even though I think it might be nice. I don't see how he can possibly find funding for that and his other plans - most notably his health care plan.</p>
<p>I also agree with eyebeg2differ. We need more than just energy. Please...have you seen how much the presidency can drain a person? To be honest, if he ran four or eight years from now, he might actually have my vote. By then, with his experience and deeper understanding of foreign policy, I think his plans would definitely change quite a bit. We really need a president capable of being strong in foreign policy.</p>
<p>Personally, I am an Obama supporter (I voted for him in my state's primary) but as a Democrat, I would gladly vote for Hillary, even though I don't agree with her on everything, to keep John McCain out of office. He scares the crap out of me and I am so sick of Republicans being in the white house. </p>
<p>Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we spending BILLIONS of dollars a WEEK in Iraq? I think that just about ought to cover any universal health care coverage and the education incentives.</p>
<p>Yea, I think with higher corporate tax rates and less spending on the war, we can pay for socialized health care with lots left over.</p>
<p>About $1.8 billion dollars are spent in Iraq, every week; but, of course, it fluctuates.
I just don't feel that Clinton's negative campaign that tries to attack Obama is very ethical. One day, she's debating with him and saying she's happy that she is sitting by him, debating issues--the next day, she calls shame upon him....
Sounds like she's trying to do anything she can to win, and, sadly, it's working.</p>
<p>"A lot of people are saying that if Hillary doesn't win, then McCain will most likely be the next president. Even if Obama wins for the democrats, there are so many people who are not willing to accept him for president, and all the voters in the middle between the democrats and the republicans will vote republican. Also, although I like the idea of change, and Obama seems like such a great guy to have for president, he hasn't really had any suggested ways to go about it."</p>
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<p>It's the other way around, Clinton is so polarizing that if she wins the primary Mccain has got the general.</p>
<p>I, a committed Democrat, am not sure I'd be able to hold my nose and vote for Hillary. The problem? The only way she'd win this is if the superdelegates tip it to her. She should drop out and let Obama take his chance. The other problem? She's only slightly more inspiring to me than Al Gore or George W. Bush.</p>
<p>If she were to drop out it would look so bad on her and her campaign. Plus there's no reason for her to drop out. People can get inspired all they want but when talk becomes cheap well see how many people are still die hard over Obama.</p>
<p>I think that McCain appears too old to a lot of younger voters, Hillary is borderline. Obama appeals because he is younger, a good speaker, and appears to be a candidate that promises change for the better.</p>
<p>A lot of older people think that Obama hasn't "paid his dues" yet and is too inexperienced to be president.</p>
<p>All I know is that McCain is starting to gear up money, speeches, commercials, etc. for his campaign while Hillary and Obama fight, the longer it takes for the dems to pick a candidate the better it is for the Republican party.</p>
<p>I'm rooting for a Hillary/ Obama ticket.</p>
<p>They are both great candidates. I have been a staunch Hillary supporter all along. Then I met Obama at a Town hall Meeting and he hooked me. He is not as young as he seems. I found his answers to questions well thought through and intelligent. He says flat out that their policies are not that different- they would make a great team.</p>
<p>I would sleep well at night with EITHER of them in the White House and even better knowing that they were BOTH at the helm.</p>
<p>I think it would be somewhat refreshing to find a candidate who's anti-hope and anti-change, but alas, there is none. Not that I would vote for such a candidate...</p>
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People say he has no policies or "real" stances, when he has a ton of them, out there, published. Maybe you have to do some work to look them up, but don't make claims without doing research first.
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<p>Oh, so the problem is that he has stances but doesn't say them? That's a whole lot better...</p>
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ill steer clear of "change" if it means the U.S will make Canada look like a capitalist nation.....
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<p>Gah! Universal health care does not make a country socialist!</p>
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what's so bad about Hillary? Not asking defensively, but I really want to see people's opinions
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<p>People don't like that she proposed universal health care during her husband's presidency, even those who support it now. Many will deny this, but it's true. I've never really gotten a satisfactory answer to this question.</p>
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It's the other way around, Clinton is so polarizing that if she wins the primary Mccain has got the general.
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<p>Actually, Clinton is somewhat moderate (the reason people think she's an extremist goes back to the universal health care debate). I think voters will begin to realize this.</p>
<p>proletariat2 - Clinton is not moderate. On the 0-100 scale (0 being the most liberal, 100 being the most conservative), Obama is rated at 7, the most liberal vote in the senate, and Hilary is at 8. McCain is the most moderate at around ~83. </p>
<p>I used to love Obama, but then you realize the mountain of problems he has. His speeches are centrist but you can't be a uniter as the #1 liberal vote in the U.S. Senate. He wasn't part of the bipartisan Group of 14. He hasn't sponsored any substantial legislation (this is from one of his most prominent supporters in the Senate who couldn't answer a prompt from Chris Mathews when asked to list a single bill sponsored by Obama).</p>
<p>His foreign policy doesn't make any sense. He said he'd withdraw from Iraq, but would go back if Al Qaeda was there. McCain points out that Al Qaeda is already there. Obama counters by saying he knew they were there, but they wouldn't be if Bush and McCain hadn't invaded, which doesn't even address the issue that he said he would withdraw despite knowing Al Qaeda was there now, but would go back to fight them since he knows they're currently there... Funny how that doesn't make sense huh.</p>
<p>I do like his healthcare plan though, Hilary's is considering garnishing wages of people who don't pay for healthcare. And no, I don't believe there should be a mandate. The best healthcare model is probably the UK, which is a combination of private and socialized care. I won't drag this into a healthcare debate, but look up Baumol's disease and you'll understand why health costs will always increase faster than core inflation.</p>
<p>Add that to the fact that his political rhetoric was exposed as just that: rhetoric. You can't have an aide tell Canadian officials that what you're saying is just political capital and claim to be a candidate for integrity and hope at the same time. Doesn't work when you're lying out of the side of your mouth.</p>
<p>There's a lot more I want to say but I'll just leave it at that for now</p>
<p>I am ok with people who support Obama who actually are familiar with his platform. However, most of the youth vote have NO idea what Obama stands for. They see a young black man who wants "change" and they eat it up. That is what ticks me off. I asked a friend who voted for Obama in a primary what he knows about Obama. He replied, "he wants change..." I however don't need change...my life is just fine! lol</p>
<p>I totally agree with Kindaslick. I think that most of his popularity, as I've stated before, is from people jumping on the bandwagon but not actually knowing any issues at hand. I think if more people were actually educated on the stances of the candidates he wouldn't have as much as support as he does. Yet, a good speaker comes across and everyone is head of heels in love.</p>