Why I like Barack Obama

Yeah, you read it right. His politics are not mine. His party is not mine. His inclination towards hope is mine.

America needs hope. All Americans need hope. Barack Obama has been a breath of fresh air in the otherwise stench of the "politics of national destruction". And he encourages people to be hopeful...forget about the mechanics of government doing this or that. Quietly forget about policy for just one moment. Somehow, Barack Obama has succeded where so many politicians have failed so miserably - he is redeploying "hope" back into our national vocabulary...and the message is resonating with people, many people.

Limbaugh is funny. He's not hopeful. In fact, he often disdains the political use of the word "hope". John McCain is a man I would follow into a battle, but I think we'd be doing it with a pessimistic attitude...wondering who's gonna get shot first. Hillary is hope-less. She everyone's bad mother....angry and bitter, it seems.

Like Mike Huckabee, Obama has a Lincoln-esque quality about himself. He's caused a good friend of mine, Chad, to support him. My friend is a pastor, a conservative and a leader. Hmmm....

No, I'm not endorsing Obama, Just admiring a qaulity in a man worthy of being a quality in all of us: Hope for the future.

Dennis

PS: Here's something out of Newsweek I thought you'd like to read. Family dinner-time discussion may be changing America.

Stan Honda / AFP-Getty Images

Senator Casey credited his kids in explaining his endorsement of Obama

CAMPAIGN 2008

Dinner Table Debates

In Pennsylvania, many young voters are pushing their parents to back Obama.

By Suzanne Smalley | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Mar 28, 2008 | Updated: 5:20  p.m. ET Mar 28, 2008

All over Pennsylvania, parents and their college-age children are battling over the state's Democratic primary. In one dining room in a small industrial town in northeastern Pennsylvania, the animus grew especially strong on Easter Sunday. Over honey-baked ham, Kathleen, 22, a student at a local Catholic college, and her mother, a hairdresser, got into a fight that brought the family dinner to a standstill. Kathleen and her mother have been arguing about the relative virtues of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for months—largely, Kathleen says, because her mother is deeply worried about the economy and doesn't think Obama is capable of fixing it. "She says Obama is too idealistic," says Kathleen, who asked to be identified only by her middle name because she's working for a local media outlet that does not permit her to publically express her political views. "And I told her I want someone idealistic. I think she believes he's promising too much." Kathleen said the Easter argument began when her 76-year-old grandfather warned her and her brother that he's never seen the country in such bad shape. "'You and your brother are going to have to work to fix this country'," Kathleen recalls him saying. Kathleen says her mother then provoked her by pointing out that life was great under Bill Clinton. "I don't like my mom equating [Hillary] with her husband," Kathleen said. "I said, 'Her husband's not gonna be president, Mom'." That was enough to send grandpa over the edge. He stopped the conversation and demanded the family get back to eating.

Kathleen's family is not the only one grappling with fierce generational rivalries in this election's Democratic contests. In Pennsylvania—as in Ohio, which Hillary won by 10 percent—Clinton currently has bedrock support from the so-called Reagan Democrats: white, blue-collar, middle-age men and women who defected from the Democratic Party in 1980 and 1984 to vote for Reagan. Many voters fitting this profile are now solidly back in the Democrats' corner but have proven difficult for Obama to win over in Pennsylvania, fueling Clinton's 12-point lead in one recent state poll. But Obama may see his support among that group increase soon, thanks to Sen. Bob Casey's endorsement of him, announced this morning. Against abortion and in favor of gun rights, Casey, a Roman Catholic, is the son of a popular Pennsylvania governor who, like Reagan, succeeded by winning over those blue-collar, socially conservative Democrats.

Casey explained his endorsement by describing the intense enthusiasm his kids feel for Obama. "Let me tell you a little story about my four daughters, one by one," he said. "First of all, my daughter Caroline, our second, she saw Senator Obama speak at the 2004 convention. She was not only listening … by the end of his speech, she was standing on her chair. And that's the same reaction that we've all had about his campaign and about his character. My daughter Elyse was sitting in our home the night of the Iowa caucuses. Senator Obama was speaking, and she was transfixed looking at the television set. And all of a sudden—I was standing there in the kitchen with her—the telephone rang, her cell phone rang. One of her good friends called her, she picked up the phone and she said, 'I can't talk to you now, I am listening to Barack Obama,' and she hung up ... My daughter Julia is reading 'The Audacity of Hope' right now. And my daughter Marena, who's our youngest, is 11, she's been giving me messages for Senator Obama that I'm supposed to impart to him later."

Like Casey's daughters, Angie McNie, a 20-year-old sophomore at Penn State and a member of the university's Students for Obama club, has persuaded her dad and stepdad to give Obama a second look. McNie, a   student from a blue-collar Pittsburgh family—her dad works as a bus driver—said she's been steadily campaigning to convince her parents to vote Obama. She said she told them that Clinton's universal health-care plan might not be as great as it sounds. "I tried to explain … that if Hillary does institute this it means you are forced to buy this health care, and if you can't afford it for whatever reason they take it out of your wages," she said. "A couple weeks later my dad said, 'I'm sorry, hon. I'm still voting for Hillary.' I said, 'It's OK, but it would be so much better for me if you'd look into both candidates and their platforms instead of just [thinking] their husband was a good president'." McNie says her dad is still leaning toward Clinton, but has promised he'll think about Obama. She said she made inroads with her stepdad by pointing out that Obama doesn't accept money from special-interest groups. "He didn't believe me at first, and then he looked into it and he said, 'I really agree with that'," McNie said. But she said her stepdad still thinks Obama is too young and inexperienced. McNie said she hasn't stopped trying to persuade them, but her parents are tiring of the conversation. "A lot of people don't like to discuss these things with me," she said, "because they know I get so passionate. Especially my parents."

Andrew Craft, a 19-year-old Penn State student from the western Pennsylvania town of Mars, is also passionate. He does volunteer work for the campaign almost daily—even as he juggles exams, parties and a part-time job. His mom, Nancy, a teacher, and dad, Donald, a FedEx carrier, support Hillary Clinton. They think Bill Clinton was a great president and care deeply about health care and other issues they believe Clinton is more qualified than Obama to fix. The debate over which Democrat will make a better president has grown so heated that the family has adopted guidelines to keep their discourse civil.  "We have come to a consensus in our family," says Nancy Craft. "Around the country it's very polarized right now. Some [Democrats] are saying they're gonna vote for John McCain … In our house, we've decided that no matter who gets the nomination, we'll support the [Democratic candidate]." The family still debates, Nancy Craft says, but the tone is good-natured and often stems from Andrew's penchant for flaunting Obama gear around the house. "He has Obama pins on his backpack and on his car he has a bumper sticker," she said, adding that her car is adorned with a Clinton bumper sticker. After months of trying to sell his parents on Obama, whom he respects for being a "real, straightforward positive thinker," Andrew says he has pretty much given up on converting them. But that hasn't stopped him from trying. "I give them my little spiel every now and then, but we're both pretty solidly in support of one or the other," he said.

The debate has brought him closer to his parents. Andrew was upset about the negative tenor of the campaign, especially as the scandal surrounding Obama's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, exploded, and he confided in his mom. "We both agreed that both of those are silly talking points," he said of the warfare between the campaigns about Obama's association with Wright as well as Clinton's made-up encounter with sniper fire in Bosnia. Nancy said she comforted Andrew by telling him that negativity is as old as politics. "He was very upset about the Reverend Wright fracas," Nancy recalled, "and I said, 'It's kind of like Monica Lewinsky and the blue dress'." The younger generation is quickly getting wise to the ways of politics—but hasn't given up on getting their elders to try to see things afresh.

Comments

[F.O.D.]

WOAH - Den, I think someone has you in the corner and on the ropes about Obama.

Was this post about Obama an April Fool Days post???

[Andrew Rampenthal]

Hey Uncle Den,

Havent checked your site in a while wanted to stop by and see what your up to. I hope the family is doing well.

I think I may disagree with you for the first time, lol.
I believe Barack has good intentions with his campaign but I just dont buy into the "hope" concept. I believe what he is expressing is to have hope in him. People should have hope in themselves and Christ. His hope to me is false. Ronald Reagan gave people hope in themselves and in the country instead of tearing it down. I dont see Barack doing that. I believe he is going after the weak and tired to build his platform and giving them false hope and promises, thats why so many are willing to follow. Thats how Hitler came to power if I remember correct. Not that I am comparing Obama to Hitler using that as an example of how both went after/going after peoples feelings to win. Obama almost has a cult like following, if you ask Obama supporters why they like him, its the same response "he gives me hope" I never hear anyone give real reasons why they like the man. Anyone can give you false hope. Hilter gave the Germans hope in him, which was a disaster. We need someone who gives us hope in ourselves and the nation for President, but sadly I dont see it in this election. Maybe in 2012? But on that note I would rater see President Obama then President Hillary Clinton. Im not a big fan of McCain, but I believe he is better then Obama or Clinton. Who knows, maybe a democrat will win and have a horrible four years, and a true conservative will win in 2012. Reminiscent of Reagan beating Carter, after his terrible four years. By that time Bobby Jindal would be perfectly capable of a Presidential bid and certainly is a Reagan Conservative.
Well gotta run, talk soon!