Obama has no fire in his belly

I've seen this comment several times in several different ways from people who were ambivalent about Obama but not keen on McCain. I just read the following article today from Time/CNN and it describes exactly what I was feeling but didn't know how to word.

I hope this sparks some good discussion.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1841109,00.html

I'll read it and comment more later, but in general I'll take cool reasoned intellect over fire-belly any day of the week (and twice on Sundays!).

That's how I feel too. It was bothering me to hear people say he's too calm, he has no emotion, how to do know he'll stand up to foreign leaders, etc. blah blah blah. Yet, I knew if he came out strong and showed anger or outrage he'd be blasted as not in control of himself among other things. The article hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned.

I don't agree with the beginning of this article.  I think the first couple paragraphs are crap.  Just because someone uses the word "blue collar" or "flashy" does not give me even the slightest hint of a racial undertone.  Maybe I was just raised differently, though.  I don't see anything wrong with those words.  and I certainly don't think "white" when I hear blue collar and I don't think "black" when I hear flashy.  Once again, maybe that's just me.

I think there's a difference between looking strong and looking like an "angry black man".  I don't think Obama should have to be afraid to look strong and to speak out.  I understand that he doesn't want to come off as angry, but I think that if he hopes to pull ahead, he's gonna have to get a little fired up.

He kinda looks like a wimp right now.  Smart, but still a wimp.

I think the Obama campaign figured out over the weekend that they're still running against McCain, not Palin.  Regardless of her popularity she is not actually running for president.

Sticking with the message that McCain does not represent change and countering his negative ads with accustions of negativity is the better course, IMO. More in keeping with Obama's ideology.

Nah. Obama doesn't look a wimp. Not any more than McCain looks like a pimp.

ok, I'll bite since I was one of the ones who questioned what fires Obama up.  I am not looking for anger, I am looking for fire in the gut strength, i.e. "I have a dream...." etc. Bush ratings are in the toilet, the economy sucks, we're in a war in Iraq spending ourselves into more and more debt with a rising military death rate, our jobs are going to China, and illegal immigrants are pouring over our borders......why is the presidential race even close? or McCain slightly ahead in some polls?  Shouldn't Obama be nailing down this election?  Obama is looking IMO kinda bewildered by the Palin thing....why is he going after her anyway, he is the presidential candidate not the V.P. candidate.

Original Post by akgal:

Obama is looking IMO kinda bewildered by the Palin thing....why is he going after her anyway, he is the presidential candidate not the V.P. candidate.

 This is what the Obama campaign needs to realize, IMO, and I've read this all over the place in editorials as well.  They're focusing so much on the Palin poll bump that they're forgetting what the campaign is about.  I mean, this was a decent zinger:

"If you think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to put themselves out of business, well I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska."

But it's still a fire back at Palin, and you know that reporters are clamoring to ask her what she thinks of the comment.  Palin already has enough press - they don't  need to give her more. 

I'm glad he released an ad denouncing McCain's campaign tactics, and that he's calling him out on trying to co-opt the change slogan, but I hope they come out with more.  McCain is the candidate to beat.

Original Post by santonacci:

I'm glad he released an ad denouncing McCain's campaign tactics, and that he's calling him out on trying to co-opt the change slogan, but I hope they come out with more.  McCain is the candidate to beat.

 See...that's the thing.  Is that seriously the best he can do is attack McCain for his choice of slogan?  Who gives a flip what either candidate's slogan is.  I want them to get to the meat!

really i know i shouldn't be posting in here, but it sounds to me as everyone on this is for obama.... oh if so lord help us!!!!!

I'm more interested in what they have to say rather than how they say it.  I have no problem with speeches and ads criticizing the opposition of either side as long as it's true and not distorted. 

I too am sick of slogans like "drill baby drill" and "change" and "USA USA USA" and "no way, no how, no McCain".  I long for straight talk and common sense.  Slogans are big with people who glorify ignorance. 

I loved Thomas Friedman's comparison to "drill baby drill" at the beginning of the age of alternative energy, speculating what if people had yelled "typewriters baby typewriters" at the beginning of the high tech age.

Original Post by heatherlanders:

really i know i shouldn't be posting in here, but it sounds to me as everyone on this is for obama.... oh if so lord help us!!!!!

 The Lord needs to help everyone because some people express support for Obama on an internet message board?

Wow - I had no idea we had so much pull.  I would've thought The Almighty would be paying more attention to Democratic Underground or DailyKos or something.

Original Post by peaches0405:

 Who gives a flip what either candidate's slogan is.  I want them to get to the meat!

 Well, apparently McCain does, or he wouldn't be trying to convince people that's what his ticket represents.

But I agree - I wish they would get back to the issues instead of trading zingers.

oh if so lord help us!!!!!

Our prayers are more fervent than your prayers. :D

Has anyone read the link in the OP besides peaches? Does anyone think race is an undertone?

 

Original Post by moonikins:

Has anyone read the link in the OP besides peaches? Does anyone think race is an undertone? 

 I read it, and it's only an undertone depending on the demographic you're talking about, IMO.  I, for one, would love it if Obama would speak with  more passion (not that I think he's ineffective as he is), but I can say with certainty that my more racist relatives would definitely inperpret him as an angry black man.  Of course, they already view him as an "uppity" black man, so his toning it down really won't sway them.

i read it, do not think in obama's case that it applies since his basic personality seems to be calm not angry.  unless he is a very good actor

Of course race is an undertone. It has to be.  Just as much as gender is an undertone (and to get technical, sex as well, for those who might play the sex vs gender semantics).

And I very much think that introduction was playing on the race differences, even though it was probably largely unconscious.  Obama is other, black is other, we are not flashy, flashy is other, we are blue collar, we are white, McCain is like us, he is us.

I think the use of the word uppity was of course racist and certainly classist.  Anyone who has ever read any literature at all knows the connotation of the term.

Peaches may live in a place where there are not a lot of diversity, that tends to be the places where people are very sure of their colorblindness and that they are not part of white privilege.  Maybe not.  But I think to deny that there are depths of meaning to words, especially when used in certain ways in certain situations, is denying a truth for a should be.

i also read it, and you can make anything racial if that is what you read into it... and all i was saying about lord help us is i don't agree with obama's views at all except 1, and apparently a lot do, since this tends to be more of a thread towards the good of obama instead of mccain, i thought blue collar meant, the common man ( hardworker for hard earned money) not "white" and i thought "flashy" was more of as meaning of lots of bling to shine. sounds classist but not racial. well if it o.k to say supportive things about obama on a thread it is also o.k to say opposing also..

The technical term for a blue collar worker is someone who does manual type labor, construction worker, welder, brick layer, etc.  A less flattering term is Joe Sixpack. I do think that in this country blue collar worker usually refers to white middle income workers. It doesn't exclude black workers, but it doesn't really include them either if that makes sense. I agree with the part of the article that says black middle class families are left often kind of left out of the discussion.

I like what Santo said in #15 about her more racist relatives. I too wouldn't mind him speaking with more passion or showing more emotion. I believe that my more racist relatives would interpret him as an angry black man.

 

#17, you hit it spot on.