The Long Road ahead for Obama

Can he reach the White House

Published on June 4, 2008 By Bahu Virupaksha In Politics

As of now Barack Obama has secured enough delegates to clinch the nomination for the presidential elections in November 2008. This much was never in serious doubt since Super Tuesday in March. It would not be correct however to believe that given the unpopularity of the Iraq War and George W Bush that a Democratic victory is a sure thing. Nothing can be further from the truth. Obama has avery tough fight on his hands and can use evry vote he can cadge out of a reluctant electorate.

For starteras the Clinton supporters will act very pricy and hard to get. Though Hillary Clinton has all but conceded defeat, her supporters are still defiant. Unless the Clinton supporters are brought on board, Onama will not be able to win the Presidency in November. The talk of Hillary Clinton being offered the Vice Presidency is not doing any good to the candidature of Obama and he can do without the gratutious advice being prooffered to him.

The white middle class vote is securely in the kitty of Obama: the samr is not true of the white working class vote. Obama has to come up with a credible plan to put an end to outsourcing and job loss on the main street. So far Obama has not offered any credible plan of action. While his health plan will pass muster goven the kind of scrutiny it has had at the hands of the Clinton crowd, the samr is not true as far as his economic poliocies are concerned. Offerinf federal aid/subsidies to companies shipping the jobs back to US is a good beginning.

Obn the deomestic front, Obama is obviously concered about education and I think he is being sincere when he says that the schools will receive all the help they need. A radical restructuring of primary and secondary education may not be in order, but certainly an Obama presidency is likely to impact education in a positive manner.

On the immigration front, Obama has gotten an easy ride so far. He has to spell out exactly he palans to do. One obvious solution is to increase the minimum wage so as to make jobs more attractive. Barack Obama will not have a hard immigration policy as the Latino vote is still up for grabs.

On Iraq, Obama has been most consistent and I think the remarkable surge in his popularity is due in part to the unpopularity of Bush's "Surge".

So Barack Obama has his work cut out for him. Winning the nomination was the easy part. Now the real; test begins.

Comments

Island Dog

on Jun 04, 2008

One obvious solution is to increase the minimum wage so as to make jobs more attractive.

Increase it to what? Who will pay for it?

Dr Guy

on Jun 04, 2008

We really should take his positions one at a time as each is worthy of a discussion and debate (as are McCains). But let me start with this one.

YOu misunderstand the way the US works in regards to education. Obama may have the best of intentions (I beleive Bush did as well with his NCLB), but the simple fact is that it will not happen because the feds do not have the capacity for good in this area, only the abilty to muck things up. The lions share of money for education (Elementary and Secondary) comes from the local taxes collected by each school - or in some cases the co-existing political juriudiction - division. They, and they alone can effect change within the schools. And the government can hand out money - pittance in comparison - but always with strings attached that does more to eat up that money with administrative burdens - than help any child get an education.

I am sure he has the best of intentions. But if he goes down this road, he will do no good, and only do harm. I believe the same thing with Bush's program. The Feds should stay out of education period. They can only confiscate more money from citizens, waste a part of it in the federal bureaucracy, and then turn it back over to the states and localities - free of strings to do the least damage. But when only 75 cents of every dollar collected for education goes to education (the rest goes to administrative costs and waste - but I repeat myself), it is better they collect none, and let the localities collect it all.

Nitro Cruiser

on Jun 04, 2008

On Iraq, Obama has been most consistent and I think the remarkable surge in his popularity is due in part to the unpopularity of Bush's "Surge".

He consistently states he will pull all troops out of Iraq (IMO surrender). The surge has been proven to have worked, and you are correct, Obama was/is against it. This is the only topic of his that I can speak of as the rest of his agenda is vague at best. Hope and change are just buzz words to me,,,empty. Maybe this will be remedied now that he must speak to the nation and not just his supporters. While it may seem irrelevant to some I do question his integrity. I find it hard to believe he would carry on associations with people he says do not share his visions. I can talk to folks I disagree with but I would never consider them mentors and doubt the relationship would last 20 years. If not Obama, wouldn't these others break the relationship if he disagreed so much? And it's about racism on top of that to boot. Sorry where there's smoke chances are there is fire. I smell smoke.

That said if he is elected president, I hope he proves me wrong. I don't dislike the man; I don't know him well enough to make that call. But, of the policies he has mentioned that he supports, I don't have a thing as of yet that I find in agreement. I find it hard that he will work with both parties, when he has said nothing that appeals to me, and I don't consider myself ultra-conservative. Whether they like him or not nobody can say McCain hasn't reached across party lines. Obama’s rhetoric about “A third Bush term” makes no sense based on McCain’s track record. In fact McCain could truthfully say “Obama will rubber stamp whatever the Democratic Congress wants”, as that is what he did as senator. I do think at this point it "Let’s Make a Deal" with Obama, do you take the $500 cash or go for door number 3. I've never picked an unknown just cause I was caught up in the moment, just not that much of a gambler.

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