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My doubts on Obama
Jan. 30th, 2008 08:25 amwritten up for this thread in Elf!'s journal:
My thing with Obama is, thinking he's ready to be President seems like a hopeful projection based on...well, what? He has no executive office experience whatsoever. Obama was a state senator for 8 years, then has been a Senator for four years, neither of which involves much along the kind of work the POTUS does.
Along with that is that a President doesn't come to the White House alone; there's a whole crowd of appointees/supporters/etc. that come with them. Where's Obama's going to be coming from - Illinois cronies and hangers-on? Since he hasn't been in DC that long, that's my expectation. One of the things I don't like about Clinton is that hers would come from the same group that ran the country during Bill's time (and has been hanging around Washington for the past 8 years, waiting for 'their turn' again). That doesn't give much confidence that they'll bring any kind of fresh take when they come in, but what are we going to be getting with Obama?
The good news for Obama is that neither of his likely rivals - Clinton or McCain - have much executive experience, either. Their appeal will be on experience working with the other party: Obama talks about bringing the parties together, while Hillary and McCain have actually done the hard work of reaching the compromises across the aisle that that requires. I don't think Obama can actually deliver on his promises to put the partisan differences behind us, too often when I hear that it gets translated into "do it our way or else" action.
The presenting-a-fresh-face-to-the-world angle for Obama is probably his strongest selling point. He's also the most eloquent speaker among those left in the field.
My thing with Obama is, thinking he's ready to be President seems like a hopeful projection based on...well, what? He has no executive office experience whatsoever. Obama was a state senator for 8 years, then has been a Senator for four years, neither of which involves much along the kind of work the POTUS does.
Along with that is that a President doesn't come to the White House alone; there's a whole crowd of appointees/supporters/etc. that come with them. Where's Obama's going to be coming from - Illinois cronies and hangers-on? Since he hasn't been in DC that long, that's my expectation. One of the things I don't like about Clinton is that hers would come from the same group that ran the country during Bill's time (and has been hanging around Washington for the past 8 years, waiting for 'their turn' again). That doesn't give much confidence that they'll bring any kind of fresh take when they come in, but what are we going to be getting with Obama?
The good news for Obama is that neither of his likely rivals - Clinton or McCain - have much executive experience, either. Their appeal will be on experience working with the other party: Obama talks about bringing the parties together, while Hillary and McCain have actually done the hard work of reaching the compromises across the aisle that that requires. I don't think Obama can actually deliver on his promises to put the partisan differences behind us, too often when I hear that it gets translated into "do it our way or else" action.
The presenting-a-fresh-face-to-the-world angle for Obama is probably his strongest selling point. He's also the most eloquent speaker among those left in the field.
