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| Home Front: Politix |
| Obama Urges Dems to be Tougher on Security |
| 2006-09-18 |
| INDIANOLA, Iowa - Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., warned Democratic activists Sunday that the party must take a tougher stance on national security if it wants to succeed in the November elections. "What Democrats have to do is to close the deal," said Obama, the keynote speaker at Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin 29th annual steak fry. "We have got to show we have a serious agenda for change." Obama's appearance in Iowa, where precinct caucuses launch the presidential season, has raised a number of eyebrows about his intentions for a presidential run in 2008. Though only a first-term senator, Obama has burst onto the national scene. But he wouldn't say Sunday whether he was considering a run at the White House. "My only attentions right now are focused on '06," said Obama. "Whoever is looking toward 2008 without focusing on 2006 makes a mistake." Obama said he and other Democrats want to take the nation in a different direction, but he vowed not to "demonize" Republicans. He said a carefully cast message could lure moderate Republicans who are uncomfortable with the White House's hard-line conservative stance. "The American people are ready for change," he said. "The American people recognize the path (of) the last five years has not made us more competitive, has not opened more opportunities and has not made us safer." Too bad. I thought I was beginning to like this guy. Unless the writer screwed up, and this is Warner's quote, which I deleted as old news. Obama called the attention he has received "flattering," recalling how he was treated like a hero when he traveled to Kenya this summer to visit his father's home village. He also noted that rumors of his presidential ambitions began the day after he was elected to the Senate in 2004, when someone asked him about his plans for 2008. "I said you'll have to wait a little while," he said. In his speech to more than 2,000 activists gathered in a county park, Obama also warned that many voters are losing hope that the government is on their side. "Even those of us in public life get a certain cynicism," he said. "We've got a lot of self-important leaders who are long on rhetoric and short on ideas. I'm thinking of some folks from Mass and Calif.... "People still believe that in America the promise is limitless, but they aren't sure their leaders do." |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #4 "We've got a lot of self-important leaders who are long on rhetoric and short on ideas. Yes indeed. We need more here built upon the Kenyan, Congo, Somalia models. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-09-18 16:18 |
| #3 a wolf in sheeps clothing. His words and actions do not match. Hopefully the good bloggers will call him to task. |
| Posted by: tired and beat down 2006-09-18 13:53 |
| #2 You are correct on the agenda, but unfortubately all you have are hollow words. No serious actions to back it up. By the way, do you have an agenda ? As much as this administration tees me off, the Dummocrats offer even less. The choices become bad and worse. I think this Obama has no chance of any widespread support. It's just that he's so new on the scene that his dirty laundry is yet to be exposed , unlike Pelosi, Reid, Conyers, ad infinitum. Until this party disavows it's communist bent, it's going nowhere. |
| Posted by: SOP35/Rat 2006-09-18 13:03 |
| #1 Nothing quite so dangerous as a man with the gift of taking old, discredited and bankrupt ideas, and putting shiny new wrappers on them. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-09-18 12:06 |