Obama: The Good and The Bad

Here are 2 stories that outline the good and the not so good aspects of a Obama candidacy.

From Political Wire...

Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) "announcement that he might run for president is altering the early dynamics of the 2008 Democratic nominating contest," writes the New York Times. The move has created complications for” Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "as she steps up her own preparations and is posing a threat to lesser-known Democrats trying to position themselves as alternatives to Mrs. Clinton."

"Democrats increasingly believe that Mr. Obama has the potential of upending the dynamics of the 2008 contest more than any other Democrat who might run -- short, perhaps, of Al Gore, the former vice president, whom some Democrats are pressing to run."

David Sirota has a long piece outlining where Obama has stood on issues important to Progressives since he has been in the Senate.

For progressives, this situation is perilous indeed. Obama is a candidate who has kept his record deliberately thin, who has risked almost nothing for the bigger movement, and in fact who has sometimes gone out of his way to reinforce dishonest stereotypes about the left. This is a man who has helped launch the Hamilton Project designed to undermine Democrats pushing for fairer trade deals. This is a man who belittled Paul Wellstone as merely a “gadfly.” This is a man who refused to lift a finger for Ned Lamont. Flocking to a candidate like that without demanding that he change only reinforces the damaging concept that our movement is a Seinfeld Movement about nothing.

Sirota later adds...

I sincerely hope that Obama becomes a conviction politician, whether he stays in the Senate or runs for President. I mean that, because our side needs conviction politicians with his skills, and because I don’t want to see our movement be tricked by someone who is not part of the movement. If he becomes a conviction politician, then there is no quandary for progressives, and he would make a great president - one that I would loudly cheer on.

Obama is near the top of my list, but like the rest of candidates there, he does have drawbacks. Obama is living on hype. Unlike, Edwards, Obama doesn't have an issue that he can get behind and say this is what I stand for. It seems to me that Obama has tried to be everyone's friend during his 2 years in the Senate, rather than push for change on the issues that matter most to him. Once he gets into the rough and tumble world of primaries and caucuses, his votes will be dissected and we know some mud will get thrown. At this time, Obama might not be able to live up to the hype.