Is Obama Ready?

Great reminder to help us discern from reality to hype.

And look how much better off we are now! The World hates us, the economy sucks, we live in fear of terrorists, of losing our jobs, of foreclosures on our homes, of getting sick and not having health care...all because [expletive deleted by I.M.] Bush wanted to show he was more decisive than his father.

Give me Clinton any day, and give me Obama NOW.

Absolutely correct sir!

Amen

You are so full of [mild expletive deleted] and EXCUSES!

Come on!!! The buck stops here! Bush was IN t he white house when the attacks occured. Get over yourself!!

So the first two years of Clinton's 8 were so bad that they precipitated 9/11? I recall many Republicans claiming that G.W. Bush and Co. couldn't be held responsible for 9/11 because it happen so early in his first term. The logic was that he had been scrambling to fix the mess left to him by the previous administration, i.e. Clinton's.

Well, if you believe this logic, then your criticism of Clinton's first two years in office could be explained in much the same way. After all, he was taking over after 12 years of Republican rule. Clinton may not deserve all the credit for it; maybe not any credit at all, but what I recall about his term most is that the economy boomed, and my life, and the life of my family flourished.

As for the choice we're faced in November, I'm certain that John McCain is ready to handle crisis. I'm just as certain that I won't approve of the way he handles it.

Isaac Notes: I agree John McCain was also better prepared in 2000 than Gov. Bush

He is too young. Furthermore, if we do elect Obama, the country will end up paying rougly $5,000,000.00 dollars toward his retirement. Not a very cost conscience decision I don't think, especially since everyone is so worried about the national deficit.

Obviously, Isaac is inhaling.

Isaac Notes: I love the irony of this post considering that we are talking about Bill Clinton who "did not inhale" and Obama who admits drug use. One thing is for sure I didn't drink the kool-aid

Bill Clinton is awesome, I totally agree with you, Obama will rise to the occasion!

OBAMA 08!!!

Or Jimmy Carter.

Finaly someone has said it out loud. Clinton was responsible for what happened on September 11, 2001. I will never forget.

Criticising Bill Clinton after the painstakingly horrendous 8 years we have had with "W" is ludicrous. Would you rather have some old guy with a horrible temper who may drop dead at any moment on the job?

Last time I checked, it was Bush as President during 9/11.

And the only reason that the US elected a Republican majority was because the Democrats were appeased and they don't vote when they have a Democratic President. That and the Republican's hearts grew colder than usual.

Republicans are bad for this country. There is no doubt about that. They are greedy and unkind, and it is time for them to disappear.

Isaac Notes: Demsky forgets to mention Republicans hate children and small dogs too!

Was George W. Bush ready? No. And he's still not ready...

And it took Bush and Cheney to bring the situation under control, right?

And how prepared for national office was George? Like Clinton George has forfeited his party's majority in congress. Unlike Clinton, however, George has not learned a whit from his disastrous early mistakes and has only compounded them over his second term. After eight years his policies have not produced anything the same economic prosperity we eventually saw under Clinton, and his only legacy is unending and unnecessary war and ever deepening recession.

Face it: Being president is more about judgment then it is about experience. It is far more important what sort of people a president surrounds himself with then how much direct experience he has on the national stage. Obama has shown his judgment with his selection of Joe Biden, clearly a far superior choice to any appointment we have seen from the current administration. I am hopeful.

Obama will not start a useless war costing us American lives, and billions in tax dollars. That makes him a good deal more ready then the guy that has been there for over 7 years and has yet to have a clue.

Shut the [expletive deleted by IM] up you stupid bean town [expletive deleted by IM] . . .George Bush will go down as the worst president in U.S. history and he was supposedly "ready". You clearly weren't paying attention to Clinton's speech last night because you were probably too busy watching your expletive referenec to my mother deleted by IM]

Do us all a favor and stop posting stupid one paragraph right wing propaganda and start paying the [expletive deleted by IM] attention to the candidates. McCain is about to fall over at the podium while Obama is by far the best candidate this country has seen in about 50 years.

Isaac Notes: I am a resident of Greenfield, MA not Boston

Okay I'll play...

Gerald Ford was so inexperienced as president he is never mentioned by the republicans.

Reagan’s' first two years were so miss-managed he spent the rest of his next six trying to fix the first. Eventually, rolling back massive tax cuts.

Bush I was so inexperienced that he ran the country into a recession and had to raise taxes...

Bush II was so not ready to lead... he took a surplus of budget, security and respect and trashed it... leaving office with an all time low approval rating.

Look where George Bush has taken us! To war with Iraq when we should be going after bin ladin!, The economy is falling into a recession, people are being laid off or their jobs are being brought oversea's, House foreclosures are at an all time high. Food and Gas prices are rising too! We CANNOT afford 4 MORE years of the SAME!!. George Bush had 8 YEARS to work on all these issues but he didnt!! PLUS with Rubublicans as a majority in congress they SUPPORTED G.W's Beliefs and policy's!!
Thats why we should all put our FAITH and TRUST into voting for BARRACK OBAMA for United States of America's next president!!

I remember those years and I agree with you 100 %

This is one of the best Blogs I have seen in a long time !!!! A[s a] veteran of Iraq I agree 100%. Everybody blames President Bush for everything today, a majority of people need to wake up, they would rather live in a unsafe world, dont blame our current president blame our past presidents. As the saying goes America's Military is at war the rest of America well you are at the mall.

Clinton's era was the most prosperous one! People pointing fingers at his inexperience, policies and first 2 years should actually be ashamed of Bush who has not been able to capture Osama in 7 long years since 9/11.
Republican's exposed!!!!!!!!!!

Look where George Bush has taken us! To war with Iraq when we should be going after bin ladin!. The economy is falling into a recession, people are being laid off or their jobs are being brought oversea's, House foreclosures are at an all time high. Food and Gas prices are rising too! We CANNOT afford 4 MORE years of the SAME!!. George Bush had 8 YEARS to work on all these issues but he didnt!! PLUS with Rubublicans as a majority in congress they SUPPORTED G.W's Beliefs and policy's!!
Thats why we should all put our FAITH and TRUST into voting for BARRACK OBAMA for United States of America's next president!!

Obviously, experience is not an indicator of readiness. Take George W Bush. He was in the military, dubious record but a “vet” nonetheless. He was an ivy school graduate, a mediocre one. He was governor of Texas. His father is a former president. His brother was governor of Florida. Chaney & Rumsfeld were “experienced.”

And George W. Bush is an absolute, complete and utter failure as president.

I can’t understand why McCain keeps bragging about his experience as prisoner of war. It is not an experience required or even useful to be president of the USA. I think it may even be harmful.

The attacks on the US Embassy and USS Cole happened when the Republican Congress was staging its Star Chamber attacks on Clinton. Republicans have caused this country to go down the drain. The middle class is losing homes, income, and struggling to survive. George Bush is the Warren Harding of the twenty first Century; McCain will be a weak president, another Hoover, or at best a Coolidge.

Obama offers Change. America will vote for him.

Republican much?

Yeah it was tough cleaning up 12 years of Republicans in the White House, but Bill got the Job Done. Hopefully we can find someone to clean up this past eight years of Republicans screwing things up. I know I am wrong, I mean you all have your guy that you voted for into the White House so the country is doing GREAT Right! There is nothing wrong with the ecconomy, the Islamic threat has not been heightened, and World respects the U.S. as World Leader. Us [mild expletive deleted by IM] liberals just can not see things straight.

Speaking of not ready and unqualified...George Bush still is not qualified...and I have voted for every Republican president until him! Get your act together and give us somebody that will work for the middle class and I will vote Republican again! John McCain is not the man...he sold his soul to get the nomination. Barr and Nader are fools...I guess I wll vote for myself....at least I can't be bought and sold like a lady of the evening!

Too bad he's going to win. :)

I agree. Neither Clinton nor Obama are commander in chief material. I am all for forgive and forget, but when a politician tries to re-write the very history that you witnessed and lived, well it is time to remember and reassess. If Bill Clinton cared so much about the environment, why did he not sign the K[y]oto Agreement himself when he had a chance. Why did he wait until the final weeks of his administration to rush through a significant amount of environmental legislation?
That is why he was called Slick Willie. He and his administration did not believe in the environmental cause and further, believed that it would affect the economy adversely so they waited until the last minute to avoid any effects themselves and saddle the following administration with the problems. It is not politically correct to accuse anyone of lying, but Mr. Clinton needs to stop not telling the truth. Bill, Hillary and handler sensation, superstar B[a]rack, may be fine for the stage, but of that lot only Bi[]den has a hint of the right stuff.

Ya, lets just read some [mild expletive deleted by IM] in a book and assume its fact and then blog about it. This doesn't belong on ANY website

The real question is

Is Rascit America ready for Obama ?

stay tuned answer will becoming shortly

Amen

But you are missing something mr mass, barack obama is not bill clinton where bill failed, obama will arise to the occasion.

Isaac Notes: This poster has a point. I only highlight the comparison becuase Bill Clinton did at Barack Obama's convention. I hope others will also agree that Sen. John McCain is not George W. Bush.

Suck a lemon

This is trash journalism. Bill Clinton was perhaps the most successful president in our time, just as President Obama will be.

Isaac Notes: I am not a journalist. Just offering my opinions.

So now it is the Clinton's fault that we were attacked on 9/11? Another group to blame for that attack except the people that actually did it! In case you forget in the first two years of President Bushes Presidency we were attacked at 9/11 which was no more his fault or an example of his in experience than it was President Clintons. In case I am missing something, no man goes into this office with experience at being president. Not on former president of the United States was a former president of another country before. Each man goes into that office and gains much in doing so. We are fools to really think that any man walks in the doors of the white house fully prepared to fully handle the situation alone. He needs to be a strong leader, able to surround himself with sound advice and make sound decsisions.
Sen. Mcain has proven to us time and again how he would lead, and with an out of control deficit, a reputation in this world that puts us in peril an energy policy that will seriously leave us in peril, well I prefer a man to lead us another direction thank you very much.

You funny Americans.

Obama is going to ruin you country. He is just a big talker, selling hope and promising the moon to you all.

Your second to last line is reprehensible. Never invoke that tragedy like that again. You should be ashamed.

Isaac Notes: Just as my grandparents will never forget the attack on Pearl Harbor, I will never forget 9-11. Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.

So, the "Blame Clinton" mantra still exists.

Bill had some foreign policy issues early in his tenure. Agreed.

However, he had some victories as well in improving our position in world affairs.
We had respect abroad.

And now you are blaming 9-11 on Clinton, despite all the evidence that Bush was sitting on his hands during the first 9 months of his presidency.

I guess I should expect a blog posting about how Clinton was to blame for the housing mess, the current recession, the rise of Soviet aggression, China grabbing all the oil, credit crunch, no energy policy, PlameGate, erosion of our Constitution and the presence of Dick Cheney.

Sad.

I hope it will be 40 more years before we elect a Republican majority again. God willing.

Ahhhh and look what you Bush advocates did with this country. you ruined it and made it from a superpower to a third world country. Be man or woman enough to admit your mistakes and that we need a change .. don't fight with your republican rhetoric because we we need to unit this country and defeat the real enemy of this country which is selfishness. God bless America!

Obama is not ready and never will be. He will do terrible things for this country except to send us into a 4-8 year depression

What a bunch of [mild expletive deleted by IM]. You Republicans are completely bankrupt of ideas. All you can do is try to shoot down he great visionaries of our time. Bill Clinton is an amazing guy and was a great president. You can't argue with what he said last night. Your lies and pessimism and fear are not going to work this time. We're moving on and it's time for you reptiles to get out of the way.

You're an idiot.

'Nuff said.

Was George Bush ready?
He had 8 years to fix Clinton's allegedly bad administration and he botched the job so badly that 6 years into his term (not the beginning when there might have been an excuse) that a Domocratic majority was elected to Congress. The pot calling the kettle black??

Outrageous view.
I worked for some time on CIA history.
Care to remember who nominated George Tenet ?
In 1999 Tenet put forward delt with al-Qaeda, mounting a Bin Laden unit to penetrate Qaeda's "Afghan sanctuary" with US and Afghan agents, in order to mount operations against Bin Laden's network.
Care to remember when Mr. Tenet warned Mrs Rice about Sept. 11 with an official note ?
Who dismissed those warnings ?
Care to remember who insisted to go at war against
Milosevic ?
Hopefully, we'll soon close 8 years of banana republic policies
to rediscover a great America.

What qualifies being ready for president, being a failure in every business venture and being a governor of Texas and leaving the state in such a financial disaster that they are still digging out of it?

George W. Bush was not ready for the presidency, he proved that by doing absolutely nothing with NIE warnings about Osama Bin Laden attacking the U.S.
Of course he did do learn later in his presidency when he did such a great job during Katrina and the Iraq war. Mission Accomplished. And where is Osama Bin Laden now? By the way, President Clinton did not talk more than a few lines about himself or Hillary last night

excellent point and great column.! You have hit the nail on the head with this one.Why cant other newspapers (IE: New York Times ) and among other liberal papers, have the sense that you do. I congratulate you and Go Patriots!!!!!!

very true

Umm, hypocritical much? Look at what the Bush Administration did throughout their 8 years. The economy is in the toilet, endless war, potential of more war, loss of privacy rights, civil liberties and the atrocious "No Child Left Behind." Bush has destroyed the Republican brand.

I'm a Republican and I'm not voting for McCain and I'm pissed off that I'll be voting for Obama, just to avoid four more years of a copycat Bush administration. Neocons have destroyed the party and used the religious right via false promises to push their pro-war, anti-freedom agenda.
It's time to put a stop to you fools.

Neither was George Bush. Nobody has fully quantified what it means to be "ready" to be President, with seasoned politicians often making catastrophic decisions and relative newcomers rising to the occasion. Given this, the best we can do is identify individuals with well-reasoned ideas and leadership qualities who can guide a team with the combined experience to execute successful policies together.

This is so biased and inane it makes my head hurt to read it.

Obama Is Ready...and so are the Clintons!

…and the Kennedys and the Kerrys and the Bidens…
It's unfortunate that most Republican's summation is inaccurate of President Bill Clinton's unifying and campaign kick-off speech. It's clear that the country will have a chance to join with the Clintons and the rest of the Democrats to elect a president that will stand among the ranks of JFK.

It is absolutely amazing that Barrack Obama will have in his service the likes of Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden. Something that even an incompetent Republican president wouldn’t be able to squander if he tried.

I'm sorry for my Republican friends who lack the ability to see through the competition between two parties and make choices about the future and livelihood of our nation and the people that live here.

But nowhere did Bill clinton added to budget deficit like Bush has done in the past 8 years. Do you want a bankrupt country by going with McCain?

You People just never quit with this. anything bad that happened under Bush is Clinton's fault. The housing crisis, probably Clinton's fault, the energy crisis, Clinton's fault, ignoring warnings that the levee's would fail in New Orleans, i guess that was Clinton's fault too.

explain to me how the Bush administration ignoring Clinton's warnings that Al Queada would be the biggest challenge, and Rice ignoring the briefing telling her that Osama planned on attacking the US was NOT Bush's fault?

people like you are just a waste of time.

You forgot to mention he was responsible for AIDS, global warming, world poverty, all business failures and any traffic accidents at the time. If it took Clinton two years of on the job training compare that to George Bush who is more ignorant and makes more mistakes now than when he started eight years ago. Your dogma is why I stay an independent voter. The majority of voters are sick and tired of this type of one sided garbage that you are spewing.

You republicans need to stfu for a minute and think. If Bush hadnt taken his giant vacations after getting into office and blatantly ignored reports that carried over from the clinton administration about Mr Laden, we wouldnt be in this mess. Not to mention that whole Iraq war thing, good call guys. The afgan war would is the most justifiable war in history, and Bush managed to mess it up.
Obama is everything republicans want in a canidate, family values, religeous, and working hard and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Thats what he did. Mccain left his disabled wife and married a billionaire. You Republicans pride yourself on your logic, I suggest you practice some.

So true

Wow, blaming 9/11 on Clinton, geez, talk about spin doctoring. You forget it was Bush who was in power when 9/11 happened. It was Bush's policies and cronies who disregarded reports of the CIA that terrorists were planning things

Clinton's administration wasn't perfect, it's true. But Clinton didn't throw us into a decade long war like Bush, or authorize the NSA to perform warrantless phone tapping, or any of a number of other abominations against our freedoms. Clinton turned our budget into a SURPLUS where Bush has put us into RECORD DEFICITS. Who's the Tax and Spend party now? Oh, I guess Republicans don't tax, they just spend, spend spend, and let our children pay their credit card bills.

Clinton's approval rating at the end of his presidency was the highest of any president in the 70 years they've been recording approval ratings - 65%. Bush's is currently hovering around 30%, and has been for years.

I desperately hope Obama does as well as Clinton, so that we can get this country back to a point where we're not falling apart at the seams.

Why is anti-Democratic propaganda like this leading the news headlines on Google? Is it maybe because Google contributes primarily to Republican candidates?

As to the substance of this propaganda, I doubt that many Americans will agree with it that Bill Clinton was a worse President than George W. Bush, and I rather think that most Americans recognize that 9/11 and lying America into invading Iraq were Bush's and not Clinton's doing. Furthermore, how can Republicans condemn President Clinton whose economic program brought the highest prosperity and fiscal soundness of modern times?

right winged narrow minded people - sound familiar?

Let's see, Clinton kept us out of wars and Bush lied to the country and sent us to war so he could get back at someone who tried to kill his father and in the process has costs thousands of young Americans their lives and well as ruined the lives of tens of thousands of others.

How about looking at the country as a whole. How was the economy during the Bush years (both of them for that matter). Look at the trade deficit during the first Bush administration, Clinton's administration and W's administration. Go ahead, look up the numbers.

I'd take Clinton for President again in a minute, either of them for that matter. I think Obama will do a good job as President. I think he would be able to do a much better job with Hillary as his VP. Bill may have strayed from his family responsiblities as President, but I for one feel like he was one of the best we've had.

Whoever is elected as the next President of the United States will have their hands full trying to undo everything our current village idiot has done.

And clearly, George Bush junior was really ready? Come on, George Bush jr's experience as Governor of Texas was a joke. The Texas legislature is barely in session (less than almost any other state), GB has taken more vacation days than any President in history.

If we're going to compare records, let's be honest: at least Bill Clinton got better after 2 years. You'd have to stretch things to say that George W. has had a successful legacy after 8. Maybe he'll accommplish something in the middle east peace process in the next 5 months, but I'm not holding my breath.

The alternative is 4 more years of the same failed Bush/Cheney/Mccain economic policies. Anyone can see things are bad and Mccain helped Bush every step of the way. I VOTE for Hope, I VOTE for change, I VOTE for OBAMA!!!

Who is this guy, why is this post on a national web page and carried by Google News and who cares what he thinks? For heavens sake, get a life!

Isaac Notes: The bios of all the MassVoices are linked to on the Blog.

Bravo! - It took me a long time to come to grips with the insanity of the Democrat Party - a multi-generational, Southern conservative tradition in our family.

Like Zell Miller of Georgia, I finally realized that I conservative than Democrat, and that "the party had left me" and not the other way around.

Democrat absurdities have created major issues that will take generations to overcome - most notably, the bumbling and mishandling of terrorism in the Clinton years. It will take several conservative and TOUGH leaders to come back.

Biden hit the nail on the head---for all the credit McCain tries to claim for the surge in Iraq, Obama advocated one in Afghanistan while McCain was claiming 'mission accomplished'. As far as foreign policy accomplishments, speaking of Iraq, looks to me like a timeline for US withdrawal came about right about the time Obama visited Iraq---a bigger foreign policy accomplishment than McCain can claim to date.

As a former Republican (and proud independent), I feel none are adequately ready to face the challenge of terrorism ahead. It is -- and will be -- a "learn as we go" situation. Bill Clinton? He's hot air. Ignore him. Bush was an utter failure as a president, although I do feel he did as good a job as any to keep the terrorists at bay. However, should we expect McCain to do any different? Yeah, so he was a big war hero. But he's another Bush, and this country can't afford another Bush. Obama is merely a popular fad right now. But he's soft and will prove to be biased.
In essence, what we need goes beyond political barriers. The answers do not lie in a party. What we need is a leader with common sense; someone truly in touch with us. I find NONE of these characters are capable of adequate leadership. We're screwed either way!

From the above comments, that old adage, "We see things as we wish to see them" becomes painfully obvious. Prejudice colors our impressions, however I do feel there's a clearly wide chasm between those who count Bush and McCain as having improved our country and the 70 + percent of Americans who have reason to SEE THINGS as WORSE instead of better. Many notice that McCain's positions prior to his nomination were diametrically opposite to those he advocates today seems to make him disingenuous and opportunistic instead of the "straight talker" senator he prided himself on before. "Pander talker" seems now to define him now. And, of course, his campaign MUST try to ascribe McCain's weaknesses to Obama. That's their only shot.

What exactly makes, John McCain ready? His lifetime in the Senate? His time as a POW? his time under performing at the naval academy?

No one can spend 5 years being submitted to enhanced interrogation techniques (- Bush's words) in Vietnam and come back unscathed.

Again. Is John McCain (psychologically) ready to be president? what exactly makes him ready?

The only thing he seems to know/want his war. War is a thing of the past. The 21 century is about diplomacy.

Exactly what components of his foreign policy should have been different? Name some specifics of what our policies should have been that would have prevented 9/11. George Bush the first should be blamed, after all, he was in charge of the CIA when they trained Bin Laden to fight against the USSR, and he was vice-president when the Taliban and Al-Queda were used by the Reagan administration to fight in Afghanistan. Just like Saddam Hussein, another case of us putting someone in power only to regret it years later.

Let's face it, the reason we were attacked is because we are hated around the world. Other nations and cultures are so poor and so overrun by hundreds of years of colonialism (England, Spain and France all dominated many areas) that they can use religion as a tool to coerce people into believing that violence is not only okay, but approved by their god. And we are seen as the ultimate enemy because of our excessive wealth relative to the rest of the world and our unending support of Israel.

Look, Obama has one qualification *(other than the support of MSNBC and other mainstream media). He is an accomplished speaker from the podium. Wow, that really qualifies you to be Commander-in-Chief, carry the nuclear football etc. He is filled with neat gimmicks to fool one such as going to Germany and giving a speech, building a temple in the Denver football stadium from which to emerge, and stuff that people should recognize as form not substance. It is still unbelievable to me that a man with such a lack of accomplishment in public life is the Dem candidate. I believe that both Hillary and Bill made it very clear (prior to convention) that Obama is an empty suit unqualified to be President.

Oh, but look at what a wonderful job Bush has done....NOT.....this country can't survive another 4 years of his type of administration and that is exactly what McCain will bring us.

With your logic, George HW Bush was not ready either. You simply cannot erase the fact that under the Clinton administration we had a budget surplus, families were better off, we reformed welfare, and the middle class was growing. Also, you did not hear what the rest of us heard, Bill Clinton endorsed Barrack Obama. And if I recall, September 11th happened on George Bush's watch. We still haven't brought the Al Quaida leaders to justice. Are we gonna blame that on the Clinton years, or was it George HW Bush that waited a whole month to respond to the attacks? Give me a break, please......

Isaac Notes: I believe the poster mistakes Georg HW Bush for George W Bush. George HW Bush was a congressman, head of the CIA, Ambassador to the UN and Vice President for 8 years.

Yes, and two wrong decisions don't make a right one.

Ready to change this country to a socialist diaster, dont we get taxed enough nothing is free and none of his socialist ideas are going to come cheap wake up and lets be tired of paying taxes. WORK hard and provide for yourself don't depend on the government !!!!

Are you kidding me, this is so over the top, I am laughing.

During the Clinton years, everyone had jobs, no one was blowing up world trade centers, when we we went to war we had other nations on our side, the USA had no deficit BUT a huge surplus of money, the national crime went down, free trade was started, mmmmmmmm the list goes on and on ...

I agree completely. Obama is not ready!

Clinton becomes president: January 20, 1993
First WTC bombing: February 26, 1993
Difference: ~ 1 month

GW Bush becomes president: January 20, 2001
911 attack on WTC: September 11, 2001
Difference: ~ 8 months

How do you justify blaming Clinton for both attacks, and neither Bush Senior nor Bush Junior for either?

Isaac Notes: I don't blame Clinton for either attack, but the policies he followed in response to the first attack made the second possible.

Yes, and the supremely qualified Repub (when are you guys gonna learn how to say "De-mo-cra-TIC?") candidate showed us how to REALLY handle a WTC attack.

Wow...I am just amazed that you can even think of trying to make that argument. That's just...WOW...I am speechless. You're really going to try to say Republicans can actually discern between experience/inexperience, ready/not ready and can pick a candidate better than Democrats can??

After the night and day difference between the prosperity of the Clinton years and the 8 year hole we're in right now (war, deficits, recession, economic collapse, toruture, war, 1000 Katrina dead, 3000 WTC dead, 5000 Iraq soldiers dead, war, war, war)?? That is so amazing, and it's wonderful that a party that has failed so
miserably can look in the mirror and say, "Hey, you're special! People like you!" Kudos for that! You guys are great!

JOHN W. McSAME--WAR MORE YEARS! WAR MORE YEARS!

Absolutely. I love how people don't think that the terrorist don't want to kill us anymore. If we keep bringin' it to them, they won't have time to bring it to us.

I was in NJ during the WTC attacks. I think about it everyday. Its the republicans that keep us safe. Its the republicans that rescue the oppressed. Its the republicans that turned around the economy when Bill Clinton came into office.

He was there only 2 months and he got the credit for the turn around. The fickle people of our country don't look at the big picture and can't realize that the economy is cyclical. It goes up and comes down, then goes back up again. Its a natural occurence, and has little to do with who the president is.

Actually, The Republicans were screaming at the actions Bill Clinton did take. And yes, Tenet's "hair -on-fire " almost daily warnings to George Bush ,starting in June of 2001, that a catastrophic attack within the US was being planned, and a PDB entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike within the US ( as in tall landmark buildings using hijacked planes) did not cause George Bush to cancel his month long August vacation, or bother to even minimally increase airport security, Let's be honest, the Republicans have shown a deplorable record on protecting this country when it mattered. They have left us with a far less safe country.

[QUOTE] Most notably, Bill [Clinton] pointed out how Republicans ran against him saying he was too inexperienced and not ready to be Commander-in-chief.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That sounds like a fair assessment of the Republicans' criticisms. Bill Clinton wasted not time gutting our nation's defenses and intelligence services around the world in time for 9/11; even Clinton meekly admitted to those mistakes ... without actually blaming himself or his narrow agenda administration.

This is a joke, right? The drunk we have in the office now will go down in history as the most corrupt, inept, clueless president in our history.

No attacks since 9/11. President Bush did what Bill Clinton could not do - Take Effective Action. Obama's presidency would be worse than Carter's and Clinton's combined. Why would America need the Word's approval on anything it does? We Americans died and fought for our country and their countries. Where would the UK and France and Germany be today had we not intervened and saved them. Do we need France's approval before we take descisive action? Shall we move the Red Telephone to Paris? Wake up America, they have hated us long before President Bush was born.

Umm... Monica, what are you talking about... and to whom?

I think Obama has too many antichrist similarities... I think McCain is as bad as Bush... I wish Ross Perot were running. :o)

Clinton made lots of mistakes,but he wasn't a disaster. He was a Gov. and had experience running a state. Obama had experience running in the streets of crooked Chicago.He will never be elected . No matter what his supporters say now, when they and the rest of the country go into that booth, he will never get their vote. Why? No experience, radical associates,an appeaser,voted for infanticide,is a socialist for redistribution of wealth,break down the military, surrender in Iraq,and most very likely, the Bradley affect. No way, No Obama!!!!!!

Excellent article.

Bill Clinton benefited from the calm winds of good luck. He did nothing, accomplished nothing, noteworthy during his time in office. And he also made it conducive for 911 to amass darkly around him; he did nothing about the first World Trade Attack other than desultorily drop a bomb that missed its mark. He was afraid of the military, and afraid of using it.

A wonderful orator, a true sociopath, Bill Clinton's speech was more about, "Let me show you how its done" rather than true support for Obama.

One ought to wonder why Obama, or anyone, opposed the overthrow of a tyrannical and murderous dictator.

Excuse me? Did you forget "Your a-- is covered?" at Crawford? "W" came to Washington to engineer an Iraq invasion, under the guidance of his neocon buddies. Then 9/11 gave him the perfect excuse. All it took was some fabricated intel--created by the VP's pentagon office--to push us into the Iraq mess, to the neglect of the real war on terror that we are now not winning: Afghanistan. During his first 9 months, "W" was too busy setting things up for his wildcatter buddies and other big business beneficiaries of his administration. He was also scrambling to run an office that he had conceded on a November election night until his backers realized it could be had by other means. And, I almost forgot, him and his people were busy dismantling the department of justice to put their political operatives in regional offices.

The speeches that nobama delivers are full of hot air .
a hand full of hope does not buy you a loaf of bread or a gallon of gasoline.

It is unbelievable that we can ELECT a president and this person does not
need any kind of a LICENSE or a learners permit.

A contractor, plumber ,carpenter ,doctor , etc must have a license and take
a test
And yet here comes a fellow down the pike selling snake oil and we are
buying it .

Clinton responsible for 9/11?? What?? And therefore Obama no good? Hello! Reality check: Bin Laden is responsible for 9/11, and while he was plotting it, the Bush administration was busy starting a cold war with China, not paying any attention to what was really happening out there.

And now the Republicans are serving us another candidate who´s public persona is giving so simplistic answers that any college student could recreate it on a computer with a few lines of code. Why not install my cr**py old 1.6 GHz CPU in the Oval Office than and let it run the country instead?

Please, please, with sugar on top, vote for the candidate who will serve the american people first, and only then the profit of the military-industrial complex. You know who I´m talking about.

Isaac,
What you, and apparently the powers that be in the GOP, fail to recognize is that millions of American people are struggling. This is not a red herring invented by the Dems, it is a fact. People are losing their jobs, their homes, and their faith that their country can maintain its place in the world.
Therefore when your candidate says that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong" he is telling a truth that relates only to his experience and not the experience of the majority of Americans.
And so, the question begins to shift. It becomes not merely about experience alone, but the kind of experience, the reality of that experience.
Do we, the American people, want the experience of being part of the Keating Five? Or do we want the experience of working with pink-slipped steel workers? Do we want the experience of voting against giving too much to our veterans or of giving our greatest heroes their due? Do we want the experience of delivering tax cuts to multinational corporation or bringing them to families.
You see, Isaac, you are right that Sen. McCain has a lot of experience, he has the experience of living in opulence, the experience of having a campaign run by lobbyists and the experience of seeing a team he partly owns winning the world series.
These are all amazing experiences.
It's just, well, they don't fill the needs of the American people in 2008.

C. Cooper,
In case you forgot during the commercials, the struggle against terrorism was brought on us by an enemy who declared war on us on international television as early as 1993. Don't try to compartmentalize the war being fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere as separate entities; it's all the same struggle against the same enemy; I know, because I was there. The Clinton Administration knew what was going on but blew it off thinking it would all blow over. All the while, he continued to gut our overseas intelligence capabilities and our military response capability. Clinton went so far as to treat terrorist acts as judicial problems instead of military problems and we all paid for it years later.

Don't get me wrong; the Bush Administration too likes to flirt with the judiciary as a tool to use against terrorist acts when those acts should be treated as acts of war, not crime. However, the Bush Administration did demonstrate a remarkable ability to engage an international enemy on several fluid fronts at once, and as in any well fought war, turned mistakes into success, strategically and politically, virtually destroyed al-Qaida as a viable international offensive force and ran them out of their home ground in the middle of the Middle East. The gains are only temporary of course, and the next commander-in-chief had better be just as fluid and dynamic against a rejuvenated and more determined al-Qaida. Obama and a second string administration is definitely not up to the job. There won’t be any time for him to “rise to the occasion.”

Unlike Obama, John McCain won’t have to scavenge and beg for an adequate vice president. McCain will have the advantage of top people in his cabinet that will be smart enough to place national defense first and push for a “real” free market economy, instead of the hollow stock based economy that developed under Clinton and collapsed in a few short years.

--Veterans For McCain ’08--

Experience is overrated! Just think of it this way:
WOULD ANYONE EVER ELECT GW BUSH AGAIN AS PRESIDENT? BUT YET HE HAS 8 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AS PRESIDENT!?!?!?

Wake up people. The republican party does not care anything about the middle class. They hide behind the smokescreen of morality to appeal to the religious wing only when it counts for political gain. Smaller government? Are you kidding me? You want to reduce government, then I would suggest starting with the Military. It alone accounts for over 54% of where our income tax money is going!

I can sum up the whole politics in the USA by using an analogy borrowed from J K Rowling's book (Harry Potter) - Republicans are like Slytherins and Democrats are like Griffindors.
Republicans cannot stand anything good happening to Democrats and they will stop at nothing to find faults and bicker even when no wrong exists. Shame on all your dirty tactics.

lol. This is all the repbulicans have. its not much, and it doesn't amount to a hill of beans. im pretty certain that no amount of experience can prepare a person for, arguably, the most powerful person in the world. instead one should should surround themselves with knowledgeable individuals to help make the important decisions a president makes. as for mccain, he has experience, but he has no major directive for the economy or the war in iraq, not to mention health care, social security or energy. how can responsible citizens vote for him when there is so much at stake? republicans are right, mccain is not more of the same, he's just not enough change to make a difference.

Im Not afraid of McCain, Obama, or the Clintons. I AM afraid of my neighbor and 25 million just like him. My neighbor has a hugh beer-gut, a huge diesel dually pick up truck, a huge American flag, and a big mouth. He's a REAL MAN - he's a lineman with the power company. He doesn't let anybody push HIM around. He regularily gets in bar fights. Of course he has a huge family - his kids are tire squeeling hot roders who didn't finish high school just like their dad. Domestic fights next door are common. But they are REAL MEN !! Not one of them is a veteran. They all know that Bush & Co. are REAL MAN too.
Restoring America's greatness will require more than just macho and force. It will require smarts, flexibility, plentiful jobs, no Federal red ink, a well off middle class, and a rehabilitated military. If your beer gut is a little large ask yourself if you are better off today than you were 15 years ago. Macho didn't work - there could be a better way.

It's far too late for Republicans, and if they don't find real leaders and come up with a real American platform than they will continue to be increasingly irrelevant. The Democrats, however, have seized upon a demographic trend that will only help them in future elections. By thier own statistics, the DNC was less than 28% racially diverse in 1984 (with Hispanic representation at less than 7%). This year, the DNC is nearly 44% minority, with women at 50%, Hispanics at 12%, and GLBT at nearly 6%. These minorities are not only growning in number, but they are also increasing their representation at the polls, as they are now finding that their voice actually counts in a party (Dems) that listens and abides by their concerns.

The danger for the GOP is that their targeted demographic (middle-aged white male) is the FASTEST shrinking demographic in the United States. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that a party whose only allegiance is to a decreasing minority--like middle aged white males--will become increasingly irrelevant in a country where a democratic majority elects it's leaders.

The reality check is that Republicans should have been reaching out to expand the diversity of their party 10-12 years ago, but have instead chosen to push minorities and women out of their ranks because they didn't fit the mold.

I'll be the first to admit, our country was built and successfully governed by middle-aged white males for 200 years, and I will always be greatful for their strong contribution to this country. But things have significantly changed over the past 40 years and the Republican Party hasn't. Within the next two decades Republicans will be forced to embrace change or find their ranks as empty as a 3rd Party.

For those who are offended by the reality of a huge shift in our nation's racial and ethnic diversity, I'm sorry for having spoken the truth. Feel free to look at the census bureau website if you don't believe me, and take a look at your fellow republicans at the RNC coming up. Be sure that they've gathered up every minority possible to attend thier convention in the Twin Cities, and they will still be lacking adequate diversity. There will definitely be a token Hispanic, Black, etc to don the stage once or twice, but it won't reflect the make-up of the actual party by any means.

September 11th happened well into the Bush administration. Isn't the sitting President responsible for intelligence and protecting the country? For how long will Republicans shrug responsibility and keep blaming Democrats.

Isaac,

In the United States, you're entitled by our Bill of Rights to "freedom of speech" or put it another way, of "expression". I, however, would suggest that you do not express opinions that have little grounding in reality or historical fact - "opinion" is "subjective", but why prove that you're basically an "imbecile". My "judgment" of your idiocy, is also an opinion, and provides no proof that you're the imbecile, I perceive; just as there is no proof that experience is required to be "Commander in Chief" or "President" or a "Sanitation Worker" - One is just asked to pick up the trash and clean up the mess created by the past occupants of the White House.

Obama is the new era of the 21st century and is going to make this country go back into the right direction. McCain is a RE-RUN OF BUSH's failed policy. Mccain does not even know how many houses he has. People in the country are about to be homeless and some have already lost their homes. How is McCain going to know how to run the country when he does not know what it is going on around the world he does know the difference between Iran and Iraq?

Obama is smart and has done it in Chicago putting people back to work, helped the Street kids become productive, he has helped people get health insurance, women with kids. We want action not talking, McCain does not even know that the country's economy is in peril I do not care what you people say Obama, Obama is the right man for the job he has good judgement, he will not put trops in a war that was not necessary to protect his own interests. I am 68 this year will be my first time to vote, I cannot wait to go and vote for Obama, because I will be voiting for the Change we need in this country. My social security check cannot take me to the middle of the month, I have to look for coups so that I can buy food. I cannot buy clothes because I look at it as luxury there is no money at all. McCain is going to represent the Rich as well as the OIL COMPANIES and Obama is going to represent we the common people in USA and abroad.

The Democrats tried to float two questionable candidates for President...

There was only one reason to vote for HIllary, her gender... and many people chose her solely on that basis.

There is only one reason to vote for Obama, race... and many are still prepared to vote for him simply because he is black.

Now I do not believe that anyone should vote against a candidate because they are a woman, or because they are black. It is simply wrong..

However it is even more wrong to ignore the many glaring shortcomings of a candidate and vote for that candidate simply BECAUSE HE IS BLACK.

There is one reason to vote for McCain, Experience... Like him or not, he has shown up for votes and voted his conscience and not simply parroted the party line. Obama not only failed to vote in many cases, he chaired a committee that never met because the Chairman never called a meeting..

To the blacks who will vote for Obama simply because he is black, I say you are racists...

To the whites who will vote for Obama simply because he is black, I say you have checked your senses and are kidding your liberal politically correct selves.

And to the rest of those who will only vote for Obama because they think he will play robbing hoodlum, and take from the working class to pay the poor.... you are the ones spoken of in the following quote (paraphrased) 'A democracy can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves benefits from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy'

I used to be a Democrat until I realized that the party was being hijacked by two ultra liberal factions; 1. The Ted Kennedy types who want immigrants and homosexuals to stand on higher ground that Americans... and 2. The welfare crowd who wants to give everyone a free ride, and make the working man pay for it..

I expect the Obama fans to now make crude and immediate attacks, so go ahead and let it rip folks. We know that you don't think for yourselves and that profanity and personal attacks are the Demoncratic way..