Obama-Biden

I was really hoping it wouldn't be Biden. This is going to take the wind out of the sails for me.

Comments

[BidenLuv]

Why? Biden is smart and well connected and decent. What's not to like?

[Ted]

Biden — the perfect foil for Palin!

[BidenLuv]

In the 2008 election, Biden was the only Democrat who really figured out how to talk about Republicans and foreign policy. All the other candidates on the stage started from the presumption that Republicans were strong on national security, and voters needed to be convinced of their failures and then led to a place of support for a Democratic alternative. Biden dispensed with all that. He started from the position that Republicans had been catastrophic failures on foreign policy, and their ongoing claims to competence and leadership should be laughed at, and even mocked.
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=08&year=2008&base_name=veepstakes_the_case_for_biden

This makes the case, and is ha ha funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Y8AFctpjo

[esb]

Joe Biden is one of those who are incapable of being elected President but capable of being President.

HRC was the best choice despite the baggage car filled with baggage,

but the bad blood was just too much to overcome.

Cute how she called Barak "my opponent" in Florida yesterday.

It is going to be one close election, one which turns on what Putin decides to do with Poland, Ukraine and the rest of the "near abroad."

[chrismealy]

I know, Delaware is the worst state, but he ain't so bad.

He commutes by Amtrak and is the poorest guy in the Senate.

They go back:

http://www.tommywonk.com/2006/07/obama-biden-and-colleagues-push-for.html

[jeff hoffman]

"Joe Biden is one of those who are incapable of being elected President but capable of being President." Against McCain he would have been a shoe in.

[hari]

For a multi-cultural *elitist* with deficits in national security - on top of being *not* white - Bilden fills his credibility gap and elevates his competence (his first test).

New Admin will have enough troubles on its plate - economic stagnation being a dominant factor - let alone national security issues such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the problem of a Stability Pact in Caucasus. Not to speak about healthcare....

Biden will more or less be the guy to go for critical inputs on all above. It's not a bad (white hair)choice.

Although now it implies BO will definitely choose a strong man for Treasury, for sure, to deal with emerging economic malaise.

[hari]

spelling - Biden!

[Chirag]

Its good news for India as he was a strong backer of the Indo-US Nuke Deal. Hope Obama and Biden pull it off!! He's given Obama everything that obama needed, foreign policy experience, democratic working class roots, and an age of 66!

[bob mcmanus]

So why is Mark Thoma disappointed about the choice of Biden?

[MarineCorpsVet]

Isn't Biden the one that got tanked on a previous run at the presidency because of some plagiarism that he committed and then lied about it? How's that for character?

[kotzabasis]

No Bidens of any kind will change the color of Obama's green horns on foreign affairs and international issues. The question for Americans in this election is whether they will allow HATE to trump REASON. Whether their RAGING hate for Bush-Cheney and the Republicans will drive them to elect a policy chameleon and a wannabe to boot as president of a great nation (speaking as an Australian), which still protects the free world from lethal enemies, against all the dicta of reason.

[Andrew Hartman]

Biden is a windbag with tons of stupid moments in the past
to be dug up and reexposed. He's a gift to McCain.

[bakho]

I am supporting Obama but how much does Biden help Obama on the economy?

Obama seems to be running on foreign policy when the election is about the economy. Plus, if you win, you have to govern. Neither Obama nor McCain have run anything larger than a Senate staff. Biden does not help him the way someone with governor (mostly the same setup but smaller) experience.

Registering more new voters will be the key.

[save_the_rustbelt]

Some pros, some cons, not a bad choice, not an inspired choice.

[ken]

One word for Biden - Boring.

Is he smart? Who knows. In their own ways they are all smart. None was smarter than Clinton. Yet she was narrowly defeated by someone with a glib tongue.

Smarts don't matter. Biden won't help Obama. He may actually be a turnoff for a lot of people who will not vote for an 'also ran' politician known mostly for his problem with a moter mouth.

Obama just has to hope that he can sell Biden to an American public that has rejected him several times already.

It would have shown better judgement had he gone with Clinton, or one of the lessor known governors.

[2slugbaits]

Biden is a pit bull of a debater with a razor sharp wit. He connects with downscale voters. He is not rich...in fact, he's the poorest member of the Senate and has a negative net worth. He's a good choice for Obama because he's combative, likes a good argument and has an "FU" attitude. Like Obama he's been a constitutional law professor and is dead set against the theory of the Unitary Executive. Biden was also right in predicting that the eventual solution to the Iraq war would be a de facto partitioning of Iraq, which is pretty much exactly what has happened. Forget about the surge, the reason Iraq is relativley pacific today is because ethnic cleansing has finished its dirty job.

Biden's record on banking and credit reform has been horrible, but I don't think economics will be part of his portfolio anyway.

So I don't understand Mark's disappointment with Biden. I think he's a great choice.

I wonder if Vice President Biden would still return home every night or if he would have to live in the Veep's quarters at the Naval Observatory.

[2slugbaits]

Ken,

One word for Biden - Boring.

Huh??? Of all the ways to describe Biden, "boring" isn't one of them. His mouth is a fireworks show, with listeners wondering if there will be a ground accident and everything blows off at once.

[robertdfeinman]

It's the vice presidency for pete's sake, a position with no power.

VP choices are strictly made on the basis of bringing in additional voters who belong to the person's ethnic or regional group. In this case Catholics and ???

His ties to the financial industry can't hurt either from a fund-raising point of view. I will be very surprised if Biden is given any substantive role in the Obama admin, Gore and Cheney were the only exceptions out of 46 so far. Can you name FDR's vice presidents?

As Nelson Rockefeller said "I never wanted to be vice president of anything". Most of the time the post went to someone who needed to be gotten out of the way politically.

More interesting is the issue that there will now be two open Democratic senate seats which will need to be filled. Discussions of who this might be should be more valuable.

Speaking of which, I think that public officials who run for higher office should be forced to resign from their present one when they become official candidates. If they don't have enough faith in what they are doing to take a gamble on their careers, why should we? Furthermore resigning would allow voters to pick their replacements at the same time as the general election when there is greater turnout.

Put up or shut up.

[Ex-Worker]

Likely a good choice. Good balance.

Biden has significant appeal to establishment Republicans, many of whom are not fans of Bush and social conservatives, and independents.

[ken]

I agree that Biden should not run for Senate at the same time he is running for VP.

It looks like he does not have enough confidence in the head of the ticket to win without making sure he has a backstop in case of a loss.

[2slugbaits]

The governors of Illinois and Delaware are both Democrats. They will appoint Obama's and Biden's successors. The Democrats will not lose any seats in the Senate. That would not have been true if Bayh had been selected.

Ken....it's stupid to not simultaneously defend your Senate seat. In fact, it would be politically reckless for Biden to abandon his Senate re-election. So reckless that if he did such a thing it ought to be regarded as prima facie evidence that the man is too reckless to be President or Vice President.

Gore and Cheney had meaningful duties as Veep. So did Mondale. As to FDR's Veeps, one of them was Henry Wallace, who certainly had a strong role as Veep...which is why FDR dumped him in 1944. As his Veep, FDR made Wallace responsible for organizing the civilian economy to support the war. He headed up the supply and allocation boards. So he was responsible for over half of GDP. Kind of important.

[Lee A. Arnold]

Biden can dress down McCain chapter and verse. He brings almost the entire foreign policy establishment, Democrat and Republican, to Obama's side. McCain is a good man but he is rash and short-sighted, he will "leap before he looks" -- just like Bush and Cheney. Anybody who thinks the surge "worked" ought to explain how Iraq won't end up with an anti-Western Shi'ite government -- unfortunately the same likely outcome as two years ago.

[Real Person from the Real World]

I think HRC would have been a problem for BO. While Veeps have historically been sort of meer appendages, I am not so sure anyone would say Cheney is for Bush, as for BO, Biden may provide some useful help in exchange for the kind of visibility that may get him elected successor after BO is gone, in 4 or 8 years should the Democratic ticket win. Now we wait to see who McCain picks. That may actually make the difference in the campaign as far as who wins.

[RW]

Biden gives Obama more working-class street cred than HRC ever could and is capable of speaking with genuine passion WRT jobs. His foreign policy creds are good but better still is his unvarnished negative opinion of Republican foreign policy; e.g., his well articulated rejection of the notion that they have demonstrated any ability in that arena at all.

Biden's got a mouth but that's both a pro and a con so we'll just have to hope the former outweighs the latter. The main thing is he strengthens Obama where he appears to be weakest, particularly WRT the 'elitist' and 'inexperience' mindworms the Republicans have been merrily growing, and given the impact of that nasty little campaign on the polls it seems this is a nontrivial consideration (wish it were otherwise personally).

My guess is that McCain will go with Romney or Jindal to add some youth (and perhaps a bit of color) since he matches up well with Biden but the question there may be how much he thinks he needs a Southerner; e.g., the latest polls don't suggest he needs to worry about the deep South at all (ISTR the lowest difference still put him 15 points ahead).

[S Brennan]

Well...Biden was the best choice of the sad sacks of shit under consideration by Barak, so I guess it's a continuation of the "lesser of two evils" theme the Democrats have made their anthem, it's quite a distance from the hopey changey thing...but hey if anybody notices...call 'em racist.

On the other hand it does send a clear message out to the wealthy elite that the Obama/Biden team will put your interest above all else. Consider how taxpayer were harmed by Biden. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss:

Sen. Biden (D - Delaware) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/6/63144/06015

The "Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection" in this bill occurs for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies - individual avenues of bankruptcy. Conspicuous in absence, evidently not needing reform, are Chapter 11 bankruptcies.
Want to guess what Chapter 11 covers?

You guessed it. Chapter 11 is bankruptcy for businesses:

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy - The most common type of bankruptcy proceeding. It is a liquidation type of proceeding (as opposed to a reorganization proceeding). All of the debtor's assets, with the exception of "exempt" property, will be sold, and the proceeds will be used to pay their debts. If the proceeds are not enough to pay off all the debts, unpaid amounts on "dischargeable debts" will be discharged.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy - Known as reorganization bankruptcy. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is filed by individuals who want to pay off their debts over a period of three to five years. This type of bankruptcy appeals to individuals who have non-exempt property that they want to keep. It is also only an option for individuals who have predictable income and whose income is sufficient to pay their reasonable expenses with some amount left over to pay off their debts.

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy - Typically used for business bankruptcies and restructuring. It is not commonly used by individual consumers since it is far more complex and expensive to pursue. It allows businesses to reorganize themselves, giving them an opportunity to restructure debt and get out from under certain burdensome leases and contracts. Typically a business is allowed to continue to operate while it is in Chapter 11, although it does so under the supervision of the Bankruptcy Court and its appointees.
It seems evident that the only people the Republican crafters of this bill think are "Abusive" of the bankruptcy laws are individuals, and the only people needing "Protection" are the corporations.You have now gotten a glimpse into the next 2 years (at least) of what will pass for legislation in the Senate and the House. Orwell would be proud of the naming: Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.

No protection for the homes of the elderly and the medically infirm -- but by God, we made sure those exemptions for protected assets stayed firm. No protection for employees' earnings, pensions and retirement savings when an employer takes refuge in bankruptcy - but by God, we're gonna protect those credit card companies from too many intrusive rules that demand they properly inform their consumers of the small-print deal with the devil they've just made on that high-interest, high-limit, low-minimum-payment credit card.

Outrageous.

Tags: bankruptcy bill, Vichy Democrats, Joe Biden, mbna, Betrayal

[save_the_rustbelt]

S. Brennan:

I don't think your understand the complexities or difficulties of Chapter 11.

It is not a walk in the park or a quick ride to dumping debts.

One of the major purposes of Chapter 11 is to preserve jobs whenever possible, and employee wages are protected.

[RW]

Good point S Brennan: A lot of folks are going to look at Biden and see him as essentially Republican but quite possibly many conservatives could see him as superior to the actual McCain ticket given his explicit rejection of Bush's foreign, national security and economic policies; guess Obama felt he needed to split the conservative vote ...

Better safe than sorry I suppose; there is still an election to win.

[anne]

A problem with selecting Joe Biden to campaign for the Vice Presidency, is the absence of a significant familiarity with and record on basic economic matters, supposing economics to be the most important campaign issue. Biden for instance has not long spoken for health care insurance reform, so an issue that seems too little mentioned may continue to be relatively little mentioned however potentially compelling to voters.

As shown however in the current trip to the Middle East and Europe, Barack Obama wants a significant focus on foreign affairs and obviously finds this in Biden. I find Biden remarkably similar in policy ideas to the sorts of analysts who float from supporting Democrats to Republicans, then round again, depending on where the appointments are coming from rather than as distinguished by ideas.

[anne]

Also, Delaware is an awfully small state to need to secure.

[Icarus]

All I can say is thank god he didn't pick Hillary. That nightmare has been avoided.

[2slugbaits]

For his first day on the job I thought Biden did pretty well. He really tore the face off McCain and as Veep candidate, that's his first duty. He tied McCain to four more years of Bush/Cheney in a way that Obama hasn't yet been able to do. I also thought it was a nice touch the way he talked about John McCain being an old friend of 35 years...and then proceeds to stick the knife into McCain's back by suggesting that Karl Rove has corrupted his old friend. It was great.

[Lee A. Arnold]

I think Hillary would have been a good choice too, but she wouldn't help beat the McCain ticket's supposed foreign policy credentials. But then, I think if Hillary had been the front runner, the polls would still be where they are today. This was always going to be a close race for the White House.

[wogie]

Biden's fiesty persoality is why he has the reputation of being a "straight talker" While he has some bumps to overcome he will appeal to voters from this standpoint. Further, he puts to rest the concern of many voters that an Obama administration would reflect the left wing of the Democrat party (rejected in all but 12 out of the last 40 years -- and 8 of the wins was a centrist, Clinton). He puts a centrist stamp on the present situation -- a positive for winning the white house.

[anne]

No question, what is needed in the coming Administration is more conservatism or really more Republicanism and if so why not have the real thing? No matter though, Obama must and will prove just how conservative he really is and therein become as unbeatable as say Biden has been in the past in running for President.

[anne]

Now the candidates can return to more erotic talk about just what we need to do in Afghanistan. Smartest foreign policy team ever. That will show Republicans what it means to be Republican. Delaware is in the house. I am all excited.

[rufus]

S. Brennan,

From your source:
"The details of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 reveal it to be a bill crafted as a Republican paean to MBNA, the largest single contributor to the Republican party."

"Not even one Republican voted against party lines."

Yet you put this forward as if Biden himself authored the legislation. Typical neo-con nonsense...let's lay our garbage at someone else's door step.

Tags: Unethical, Idiot, Moron

[rufus]

S. Brennan,

You might also want to peruse the voting summary. Which senator from Illinois consistently voted against the republicans on this legislation?

As I said, typical neo-con rubbish...say anything, and see if it sticks.

[anne]

Rufus:

Thank you.

[bakho]

There is not enough time for Biden to step down a successor to be chosen and a new election run between now and Nov 4. Any kind of open process would require at least 2 weeks to advertise and solicit interest, another 2-3 weeks to vet the potential candidates and check for skeletons, another week to review the documents. Leaving the choice to the top party leaders would not allow the people to have a say as a primary process would do.

State have to print ballots and set up their electronic vote machines, so that means the process must be completed weeks prior to Nov 4. Just for the logistical reasons, the Biden needs to stay on the ballot. How well did appointing Mondale to stand in for Wellstone work? Did that really give voters a choice? That had to be done. Voters are better served by a full process.

[anne]

President Clinton prevented Republican sponsored bankruptcy "reform" from passing by using the veto, but the legislation was passed by the Republican Congress and signed by President Bush. That Democrats in the Senate did not do more to block the legislation, speaks poorly for Democrats.

Joe Biden represents a small state in which finance interests are especially strong, and simply could not have been expected to fight bankruptcy reform, but the same does not hold for enough other Senate Democrats who could easily have blocked the legislation in a Senate nearly equally divided. The law is most unfortunate, and as a national candidate Biden should be challenged on support.

[Bruce Wilder]

"Can you name FDR's vice presidents?"

Truman, obviously. The greatest concern with a V-P ought to be the John Tyler factor. Is Biden up to being LBJ to Obama's Kennedy?

[Lafayette]

MCV: Isn't Biden the one that got tanked on a previous run at the presidency because of some plagiarism that he committed and then lied about it? How's that for character?

Compared to who? Lead-head?

You must be kidding ....

[Lafayette]

rdf: If they don't have enough faith in what they are doing to take a gamble on their careers, why should we?

Because after the vote, we go back to our jobs ... ?

Why should Biden lose the Senate position just because Obama lost an election? Or Obama, for that matter?

Doesn't make sense ...

[Lafayette]

Excellent background article

Excerpted from an excellent background article entitled "Obamanomics", which can be read here: "The market is the best mechanism ever invented for efficiently allocating resources to maximize production," Obama told me. "And I also think that there is a connection between the freedom of the marketplace and freedom more generally." But, he continued, "there are certain things the market doesn't automatically do."

Where have I seen that sort of comment before? Somewhere on this forum?

Now, let me think .... ;^)

[Bruce Wilder]

Lots of very sensible comments.

While remembering that Democrats are restricted by the most basic rules of the game, to nominate actual human beings, and not saints or angels, we might also have a thought for the precedent of Spiro Agnew, Dan Qualye and Richard Bruce Cheney.

After the last eight years, if the Republicans had an ounce of patriotism or decency, they would not even have a Presidential nominee. They would sit this election out, hanging their heads in shame.

[X Man]

RE: SBrennan... sounds like someone's been living beyond their means...

RE: VPs: Does it matter? Not a whit. Think about the recent incumbents: What constituency did Cheney help Bush with? Angry white guys with guns? Bush already owned that group. Quayle didn't do anything to help 41's electability, in fact the opposite. And how about Reagan's choice of GHW Bush for VP? While Bush Sr. had carried a lot of water for the Republican party over the years he didn't have nearly the depth of experience in 1980 that Biden has today. Who else.. My favorite... Agnew! Small state corrupt politico with a very short track record who was useful as an attack dog but eventually became a major embarassment in a way that was unrelated to the epic, earth-shaking embarassment that eventually brought down the entire Nixon administration... Wow.

[Lafayette]

Character assassination

Excerpted from the Economist (23 August), Lexington: Mr Axelrod has won nothing but applause for his performance during the primaries. But now that the general-election campaign has, in effect, begun, some Democrats are worrying that his magic touch may be deserting him. Why is Mr Obama stuck in the polls? And why is he less popular than his party? Some Democrats worry that he is not prepared to hit John McCain hard enough. This seems unlikely. Mr Axelrod is a product of Chicago’s street-fighting school of politics. Ed Rollins, a veteran Republican strategist, puts him at the head of his list of “Guys I never want to see lobbing grenades at me again”.

The bigger problem lies with what has hitherto been the Obama campaign’s greatest strength—message control. Mr Axelrod firmly believes that the candidate is the message. The important thing is to tell a positive story about the candidate rather than to muddy the narrative with lots of talk about policy details.

I’ve ranted probably quite enough about the lack of policy detail in this present Electoral Circus. I am also, quite possibly, wrong to do so.

Axelrod (BO’s campaign manager) is likely right. Americans don’t really care about policy. They care about “character”. Well, OK -- but that got us where after two terms with lead-head in charge?

Still, Axelrod is not a renowned campaign strategist for nothing. If BO has to seem to “wash whiter than white” (pun intended), then so be it. If we don't look at policy, we judge character in what manner? The brightly cheery faces of a politician's family beaming across the media?

But, if such is the mindset in today's America, then this run-up to November is going to be just another Media Pap-Fest for the Masses; with each side concentrating on character assassination or, at the very least, character degradation. With punchy sound-bites, as launched this week-end by Biden -- about McCain not knowing which of seven tables to eat at.

Still, it is difficult to understand why making your opponent smell like sh*t enhances any candidate's image to be more appealing. Someone please explain that strategy, because it escapes rational belief. The ends justify the means?

Yeah, right ... Only in America! :^(

[swells]

I thought Obama had only three real choices. Biden, Dodd, or Nunn. I'm glad he went with Biden.

[The Worlds Best Armature Pundit]

Biden brings nothing to the table. In presidential electoral politics he has a rather impressive record of failure, consistently losing in the primaries himself then going on to back the eventual general election loser. There is no evidence that Biden can deliver a battleground State for Obama. The only state he can count on is his own and it is utterly insignificant. He voted for the war and vigorously defended his vote. I assure you, the party’s moon-bat left, who are responsible for Obama’s upset victory over the more centrist Clinton, are not thrilled.

The evidence for the impotency of the Biden pick can be found in spot polling since the announcement. Candidates get a burst of press coverage surrounding their VP pick, historically they get a “bounce” in the polls. There was a bounce alright, only it was for McCain. CNN/Gallop has them dead even. A 3-5 point lead for Obama evaporated as a palpable wave of disappointment swept over the democrat faithful.

For a very long time Biden has cultivated the perception of himself as a regular Joe. Well, it’s worked; Biden is looked at as one-of-the-guys. But Americans don’t want Joe Lunch-pail , they want charisma, leadership, boldness, courage, fire, passion & compassion. Joe Biden…not so much.

[Lafayette]

Armpit Punditry

WBAP: But Americans don’t want Joe Lunch-pail, they wantcharisma, leadership, boldness, courage, fire, passion & compassion. Joe Biden…not so much.

What Americans want is leadership, that we can all agree. Joe Biden will follow Obama's leadership.

Your post is just so much negative blathering, which is not really necessary at this moment when momentum is building for the run-up to the election.

Which makes us all wonder regarding your intents in posting it.

[The Worlds Best Armature Pundit]

Update, Update! 8/27

Joe Biden continues to be an electoral force…for the opposition.
Half way through the party’s convention the decline in Obama’s poll numbers continue their slide that started when he announced his pick for VP. McCain now leads Obama by 2-3 in most independent polls.

Senator Obama failed his first presidential test and the bloom is off the rose. He chose the next most liberal Senator that isn’t terminally ill. The ticket has no military experience during a time of war and his cries of “change” ring hollow as he taps a consummate Washington insider. I’m very disappointed.

As-to my reason for posting; it is what it is, just spouting off. No hidden agenda. I’m just speaking my mind.

[anne]

Actually this is a game and a decidedly nasty game: "Senator Obama failed his first presidential test and the bloom is off the rose. He chose the next most liberal Senator that isn’t terminally ill."

A terminally nasty and false comment, but no doubt from the heart.

[Real Person from the Real World]

While we await McCain's choice, I still think Biden is not the worse choice for BO. There were pluses and minuses for anyone he could have picked. I am curious why Prof Thoma said he had hoped it would not be Biden. There are also the comments that Biden will deliver the "Catholic" vote (doubtful - not that many people pay attention to religion unless they are fundamentalists or the candidate's church does something eyebrow raising as did BO in promoting a black muslim). Biden could be an asset on foreign policy, and is more mainstream, to balance the election of someone not so mainstream, Black, non-Christian/muslim background.

[anne]

Biden could be an asset on foreign policy, and is more mainstream, to balance the election of someone not so mainstream, Black, non-Christian/Muslim background."

{Huh?]

[Real Person from the Real World]

Anne: Huh?

When was the last time we elected a BLACK candidate in this country. While polite people ignore mentioning race, it certainly qualifies for non-mainstream in that sense.

[Real Person from the Real World]

Anne, when will you stop your knee-jerk ideological attacks on others?

[Lafayette]

Armpit Pundit: I’m just speaking my mind.

Given your claptrap comments, it is a VERY LARGE presumption that you may have one.

Not one comment has a credible basis in fact; your mortar lobs are so wide of the mark as to be infantile. Just look at your nonsense: Senator Obama failed his first presidential test and the bloom is off the rose. He chose the next most liberal Senator that isn’t terminally ill. The ticket has no military experience during a time of war and his cries of “change” ring hollow as he taps a consummate Washington insider.

You’ve got to do better than such blather around here. Stop the ad hominens and stick to facts. Then you may just obtain some street cred in this blog.

[Lafayette]

Obamarama and the American Dream

I suppose that were I to consider Barack Obama as a political product, I would seek a message to bump it with a trumpet. And, there’s that trusty old notion, dear to us all, the American Dream -- that’s just fine for the purpose.

Nice but not sufficient. Here’s why. The American Dream has many definitions to many different people, depending upon race, age and sex. Thus, the American Dream is multi-hued like a rainbow.

Those rainbow coloured aspirations are not unique to America. Yes, there is no French Dream, or a German Dream or an Indian Dream. Nope, those don’t exist. But, those very same aspirations exist in the country mentioned. There is nothing particularly unique to the American Dream. The only difference with other countries is in the means to obtain that Dream.

There IS however the specificity of the American Dream. And, what is its common denominator? The hope that one, anyone, will have the opportunity to find a decent place in place in life with which to found a family, care for it and live a better life. Is that so difficult? It shouldn’t be.

Yet, for far too many Americans, that Dream is not at hand. And, Barack knows that perhaps better than most Americans who are white.

Yesterday was a great day for America. As Role Model to the democratic world, it demonstrated that race should have no importance in determining who is a candidate for Presidency. No other predominantly white country has taken that step – though many have had female leaders.

That’s nice, but also not sufficient. Barack went out of his way to promise more teachers and health care for all. OK, we’ll see how he’s going to accomplish those not-so-simple feats.

What he did not mention is the skeleton in the closet of the American Dream; namely, Income Unfairness. And, the only way to put some meat on that skeleton and bring it out of the closet is taxation. Particularly, marginal taxation of our richer compatriots and their hallucinatory wealth, which levels somewhat the playing fields, brings revenue to Treasury coffers and … just maybe, will make Barack Obama’s American Dream come true for more of us.

Let’s hope so.

[Anne]

I am voting for McCain. Obama has a razor-thin resume, and Biden is a Washington-based windbag.

[Regan]

Good afternoon. There ain't no free lunches in this country. And don't go spending your whole life commiserating that you got raw deals. You've got to say, 'I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it.' Help me! Can not find sites on the: kitchen islands. I found only this - Cherry kitchen islands. Site map travel guides travel web priceline. Helping you find cheapest airline tickets for international and domestic flights. Thank you very much :confused:. Regan from Thailand.