Anybody watch Obama’s infomercial Wednesday night? It was a whole family kind of deal at our house. I thought it was well-done and engaging, and Obama was as eloquent as ever.
I really like Obama as a person (or perhaps more accurately, as a personality), and marvel at how someone to whom I so enjoy listening is also someone with whom I so strongly disagree (more on the “how than the “what,” though that wouldn’t be true for all issues).
I think we could be friends, Barry and me. We’d disagree, but we could be friends.
Second Drafts 
i’ve thought for a long time that i could hang out with obama. unfortunately, voting on personality is what many claim put GWB in office, so i’m not exactly convinced that’s sufficient criteria.
i struggle with how much of his image is himself versus his marketing. indeed, he won advertising age’s marketer of the year award, an award i think almost anyone would give him (message/product consistency notwithstanding). a friend recently called him the brian mclaren of politics, which, i think, says a lot about the packaging, the positioning & the personalities of these two men.
in any case, “i have lots of friends who happen to be democrats!”
I saw a PBS special on both candidates. It revealed a side of Obama that has been well hidden: someone who is driven for power. He’s very calculating and ruthless.
Keep in mind it was a PBS special, not Fox.
Like you, Tyler, I’ve been impressed with Obama’s campaign – it’s been well run and innovative. I share your suspicion that what we’ve seen may not necessarily be what we get when it’s all said and done, but I tend to apply that to all politicos regardless of party, so I’ll live with it.
Arla, can you elaborate on your accusations? I’m not denying their truth, but think your comment is far too strong of a statement to just throw out there without explanation.
I think anyone who is a candidate for president is evidently driven for power. In order to win the presidency, you certainly have to be calculating, and you probably have to have a little less “ruth” than most people.
There’s an old joke that anyone who thinks he (or she) is qualified to be president isn’t someone we would want to give the job to. While that’s just a joke and obviously impractical as a policy, there’s a core of truth to it.
Sorry, Craig. You’re right. I had watched the Frontline documentary, and quite honestly that was my general impression. I recommend watching the documentary because there are a lot of specifics I don’t have the energy to recount. One point that made an impression on me, however, was that Tom Daschle suggested to “Barry” that now was a good time to run — before he had accumulated too much of a record in the Senate, a record he would have to explain.
Here‘s the clip you’re talking about, Arla. Indeed, Daschle makes the suggestion, but it seems more of a commentary on him (who needs no help being a snake) than Obama.
Interesting.