Why Obama is a lock to win the election

[Tyrone Bigguns]

and out of the hundreds of oil rigs in america and thousands around the world, how many were there last year?

I already addressed this...please read my post. You are now spinning a new argument...one i never made, nor opposed. Are you trying to argue with yourself?

Not start something, but how many oil rigs currently are in Hurricane zones? I dont' know anything about that. Maybe tons.

BTW, i don't think rigs is the only thing...shipping disaster, pollution.

The point was that it wasn't eco people that were holding back drilling off florida....IT WAS BUSINESSES..you know...generally those people are kinda conservative, not liberal, eco warriors.

And, retirees, city councils, the state legislature, etc.

See, when you are conservative..you worry about pushing the boundaries. You tend to think the status quo..if it is working..is good. And, they like what they have...so, if it ain't broke why fix it?

Here is a short story from the SP times (back in 99)...nobody in their right mind would call this paper a liberal one..that illustrates who is against any offshore drilling. IN this story is it is natural gas.

http://www.sptimes.com/News/92899/State/Offshore_drilling_foe.shtml

"Drilling opponents ranged from gray-haired retirees to buttoned-down marketing executives to teenage skateboarders -- unified in their desire to protect the Panhandle's sugar-white beaches and clear Gulf of Mexico waters from any taint of pollution from offshore rigs."


And, this is a bipartisan effort.

Linkage
It brings everybody together. In 06 at a press conference at the Capitol prior to the public hearing, Representatives Ken Gottlieb (D), Everett Rice (R) Gus Bilirakis (R) and Senator Rod Smith (D) were joined by spokespeople for U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez, Congressman Allen Boyd and Congressman Jim Davis, as well as business and environmental leaders. Standing next to a mock oil rig and with a crowd of citizens behind them holding signs with slogans like “Don’t Rig Florida’s Future”, Florida legislators called on the federal government to drop plans to open two million acres off Florida’s gulf coast to new oil and gas offshore drilling.

[bobblehead]

I fully agree with it being bipartisan against it being in their back yard. Here in nevada we want new nuclear plants, but we don't want the waste stored in Yucca. Everyone wants more energy, but they want everyone else to put up with the inconveniences....Jeb will never have any credibility in this debate with me again just cuz of this.

You said something about cheaper oil with a spill and you are vacationing elsewhere...I was simply making the point that oil spills are VERY rare now days. Actually reading back you brought it up twice, once implying that is why businesses were against drilling offshore in florida.

I do think environmental groups are the MAIN group that opposes drilling, but again, I readily admit, no one wants it in their backyard.


My only issue is this....we have a supply demand problem...you can do something about it or you can do nothing. I want drilling....and nuclear to bridge us until the renewable clean energy comes online. You can argue with me about who is obstructing the drilling (but we aren't really arguing, we are agreeing) or you can advocate a solution. I have stated my position, I am interested in hearing yours.

Incidentally I wrote a letter to the local paper saying we need to cut a deal with the feds and allow Yucca to go forward in exchange for putting the worlds largest nuclear plant online right on site to be guarded by our military. Its win win.

[Harlan Huckleby]

The Two Obamas
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: June 20, 2008

God, Republicans are saps. They think that they’re running against some academic liberal who wouldn’t wear flag pins on his lapel, whose wife isn’t proud of America and who went to some liberationist church where the pastor damned his own country. They think they’re running against some naïve university-town dreamer, the second coming of Adlai Stevenson.

But as recent weeks have made clear, Barack Obama is the most split-personality politician in the country today. On the one hand, there is Dr. Barack, the high-minded, Niebuhr-quoting speechifier who spent this past winter thrilling the Scarlett Johansson set and feeling the fierce urgency of now. But then on the other side, there’s Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who’d throw you under the truck for votes.

This guy is the whole Chicago package: an idealistic, lakefront liberal fronting a sharp-elbowed machine operator. He’s the only politician of our lifetime who is underestimated because he’s too intelligent. He speaks so calmly and polysyllabically that people fail to appreciate the Machiavellian ambition inside.

But he’s been giving us an education, for anybody who cares to pay attention. Just try to imagine Mister Rogers playing the agent Ari in “Entourage” and it all falls into place.

Back when he was in the Illinois State Senate, Dr. Barack could have taken positions on politically uncomfortable issues. But Fast Eddie Obama voted “present” nearly 130 times. From time to time, he threw his voting power under the truck.

Dr. Barack said he could no more disown the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than disown his own grandmother. Then the political costs of Rev. Wright escalated and Fast Eddie Obama threw Wright under the truck.

Dr. Barack could have been a workhorse senator. But primary candidates don’t do tough votes, so Fast Eddie Obama threw the workhorse duties under the truck.

Dr. Barack could have changed the way presidential campaigning works. John McCain offered to have a series of extended town-hall meetings around the country. But favored candidates don’t go in for unscripted free-range conversations. Fast Eddie Obama threw the new-politics mantra under the truck.

And then on Thursday, Fast Eddie Obama had his finest hour. Barack Obama has worked on political reform more than any other issue. He aspires to be to political reform what Bono is to fighting disease in Africa. He’s spent much of his career talking about how much he believes in public financing. In January 2007, he told Larry King that the public-financing system works. In February 2007, he challenged Republicans to limit their spending and vowed to do so along with them if he were the nominee. In February 2008, he said he would aggressively pursue spending limits. He answered a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire by reminding everyone that he has been a longtime advocate of the public-financing system.

But Thursday, at the first breath of political inconvenience, Fast Eddie Obama threw public financing under the truck. In so doing, he probably dealt a death-blow to the cause of campaign-finance reform. And the only thing that changed between Thursday and when he lauded the system is that Obama’s got more money now.

And Fast Eddie Obama didn’t just sell out the primary cause of his life. He did it with style. He did it with a video so risibly insincere that somewhere down in the shadow world, Lee Atwater is gaping and applauding. Obama blamed the (so far marginal) Republican 527s. He claimed that private donations are really public financing. He made a cut-throat political calculation seem like Mother Teresa’s final steps to sainthood.

The media and the activists won’t care (they were interested in campaign-finance reform only when the Republicans had more money). Meanwhile, Obama’s money is forever. He’s got an army of small donors and a phalanx of big money bundlers, including, according to The Washington Post, Kenneth Griffin of the Citadel Investment Group; Kirk Wager, a Florida trial lawyer; James Crown, a director of General Dynamics; and Neil Bluhm, a hotel, office and casino developer.

I have to admit, I’m ambivalent watching all this. On one hand, Obama did sell out the primary cause of his professional life, all for a tiny political advantage. If he’ll sell that out, what won’t he sell out? On the other hand, global affairs ain’t beanbag. If we’re going to have a president who is going to go toe to toe with the likes of Vladimir Putin, maybe it is better that he should have a ruthlessly opportunist Fast Eddie Obama lurking inside.

All I know for sure is that this guy is no liberal goo-goo. Republicans keep calling him naïve. But naïve is the last word I’d use to describe Barack Obama. He’s the most effectively political creature we’ve seen in decades. Even Bill Clinton wasn’t smart enough to succeed in politics by pretending to renounce politics.

[BallHawk]

Good article, HH. The article is mostly spot-on. Obama is a smarter cookie than most people think he is.

1 point for Mr. Applebee.

[The Leaper]

The entire issue that will define this campaign is CHANGE.

Obama loves to toss the term out there...but make no mistake, the RNC can have a field day based on Obama's career (what has he done to forge change to this point that proves he can do it as President?) and his utter lack of specifics regarding many of his proposed changes.

Meanwhile, McCain can very easily campaign as an agent of change...and should do so heavily. He's the one with the proven track record as a guy that can interact with both sides of the aisle to get things done...not just stick to a party line beholden to special interests.

So, the campaign will come down to how well Obama can explain WHAT he can change specifically...and how well McCain can speak to the fact that he in fact is the better option for real change. This election is entirely about the independents...typical Dems and Reps are going to vote for their guy, even if they have to hold their nose to do it (think Clinton supporters and evangelicals) but the independents are who will decide this battle.

[The Leaper]

My only issue is this....we have a supply demand problem.

Actually, we don't.

There is plenty of supply. Are you having to wait in a line for 3 hours to get your gas? Is there some kind of rationing in your area for fuel?

Our problem isn't a lack of supply...our problem is dependence on others for a product that underpins our entire economy. The fall of the dollar and increase in demand elsewhere has left us incredibly vulnerable to price fluctuation.

Americans need to stop being lazy and sitting around trying to grab their 15 minutes of fame in one of a plethora of reality shows...and they need to start becoming citizens of a nation again. Find candidates with REAL IDEAS for the future, not empty promises.

[LL2]

I’m not crazy about Obama, but I like the fact that he’s ditching public financing. Using supporter’s money and not tax money should be the way it is. Yeah he flip flopped on the issue, and did it because he can. If he didn’t have a financial war chest he probably wouldn’t have. We have too many career politicians, on both sides, that keep our government screwed up and in debt because they pass legislation and give out tax money for every program all in name of getting reelected.

[sheepshead]

RealClearPolitics has an electoral map showing states leaning/favoring Obama, leaning/favoring MCCain, and tossups. The good news for Obama is that he would need to get only about 30% of the electoral votes from the tossup states to win. The good news for McCain is that most of the tossup states are states that have gone to Bush in the last 2 elections.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...ama_vs_mccain/

Walter Mondale was up 15 points at this point in 1984. He ended up winning one state. I don't see how Barry can win 10 states in November. He'll get killed in the debates for one. Secondly, the polls were so far off in 2004, with the racial component (people wont say what they really believe), I dont think a poll can be trusted this time around.

[Freak Out]

RealClearPolitics has an electoral map showing states leaning/favoring Obama, leaning/favoring MCCain, and tossups. The good news for Obama is that he would need to get only about 30% of the electoral votes from the tossup states to win. The good news for McCain is that most of the tossup states are states that have gone to Bush in the last 2 elections.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...ama_vs_mccain/

Walter Mondale was up 15 points at this point in 1984. He ended up winning one state. I don't see how Barry can win 10 states in November. He'll get killed in the debates for one. Secondly, the polls were so far off in 2004, with the racial component (people wont say what they really believe), I dont think a poll can be trusted this time around.

Mondale wasn't filling stadiums and raising money the Hussein is. But stranger things have happened in politics before.

[The Leaper]

Using supporter’s money and not tax money should be the way it is.

It also guarantees that the Dems and GOP continue to rule politics and makes it virtually impossible for anyone else to have a chance unless they are independently wealthy to the tune of billions.

I'm glad you like it. I don't. I'm not a fan of whoever has the most money wins. Obama basically just killed any achievements to this point in campaign finance reform...although it isn't like much was really done to begin with, I suppose.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I’m not crazy about Obama, but I like the fact that he’s ditching public financing....We have too many career politicians,

the reason we have so many career politicians is that the incumbants have enormous advantages in raising money. They use their office as a money making machine, and with the cost of campaigning, they have little choice but to do so.

You can't oppose campaign finance limits and similtaneously complain about "career politicians", that's double dipping. Choose your poison.


Oh, and Obama is the biggest fraud since Tony Mandarich.

[bobblehead]

My only issue is this....we have a supply demand problem.

Actually, we don't.

There is plenty of supply. Are you having to wait in a line for 3 hours to get your gas? Is there some kind of rationing in your area for fuel?

Our problem isn't a lack of supply...our problem is dependence on others for a product that underpins our entire economy. The fall of the dollar and increase in demand elsewhere has left us incredibly vulnerable to price fluctuation.

Americans need to stop being lazy and sitting around trying to grab their 15 minutes of fame in one of a plethora of reality shows...and they need to start becoming citizens of a nation again. Find candidates with REAL IDEAS for the future, not empty promises.

No, I don't stand in line, I pay more than the chinese or the other people competing with me for supply. Thats how it works...there was no shortage of clean water in New Orleans after Katrina either.....if you could afford $10 per bottle.

At this point the world wants 86 million barrels of oil a day....the world produces 84.5 million barrels, thus the price is set to block out the last 1.5 million barrels of demand.

Come to think of it, there is no shortage of ocean view condos either....hell, anyone who pays 10 Million can get one.

edit: Incindentally when it goes to $10 a barrel I still won't have a supply problem....but you might.

[MJZiggy]

edit: Incindentally when it goes to $10 a barrel I still won't have a supply problem....but you might.

Assuming you mean gallons here because $10 a barrel would be heavenly right now, wouldn't it? I won't have a supply problem either because I take the metro, but thanks for your concern...

[Tyrone Bigguns]

edit: Incindentally when it goes to $10 a barrel I still won't have a supply problem....but you might.

Assuming you mean gallons here because $10 a barrel would be heavenly right now, wouldn't it? I won't have a supply problem either because I take the metro, but thanks for your concern...

Liberal do-gooder, taking the metro...prolly think you're better than the resto us...sitting on the metro, sipping your latte, reading some liberal mag like the New Yorker.

Real Americans ride in cars and support the oil industry.

[MJZiggy]

1. Sitting on the metro? You gotta be kidding me. People are practically hanging out the doors because ridership has gone up so much over the last couple months.

2. Food and drink are not allowed on our metro system.

3. I read the Post Express (when I'm not knitting or practicing my Spanish with the Latino Times...)

4. Seems to me the oil industry is doing fine without me, thanks.