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The Next President

All I know is that I don't want to invariably end up referring to the next el Presidente as Huckleberry.
 
I have no favorites but I do have two questions that every American needs to ask themselves and honestly answer:


1. Is America* ready for a female president with such a polarizing personality?


2. Is America ready for a black president with an Arabic last name?



When I say America, I don't mean you specifically. I mean the U.S. as a whole people. Not your idealized version of what we can be but what we actually are. I think you'll find those answers to be for number one a reluctant no and for number two to be no.
 
sparkchaser said:
I have no favorites but I do have two questions that every American needs to ask themselves and honestly answer:

I think you'll find those answers to be for number one a reluctant no and for number two to be no.
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So basically, people shouldn't vote according to their own beliefs but according to their (possibly false) beliefs of what others believe? Aaah, prisoner's dilemma...
 
Of course not. People should vote for the person that they think will do the best job regardless of party affiliation but you and I both know that doesn't happen.
 
sparkchaser said:
Of course not. People should vote for the person that they think will do the best job regardless of party affiliation but you and I both know that doesn't happen.
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But if they do as you suggest and ask themselves those questions and get the same answer, then it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, isn't it? Maybe the majority would have voted for Obama, except everyone "knew" that wouldn't happen and so they didn't. Either that or people won't vote at all, with the same result.

I guess it's in situations like this that polls might actually serve a purpose - if people see that others are prepared to vote for candidate A, they might be less likely to consider it a lost vote.

That said, I'm not saying you're wrong... just cynical. ;) American politics reminds me of that Simpsons joke where Kang and Kodos both run for president.
Homer: America, take a good look at your beloved candidates. They're nothing but hideous space reptiles.
Kodos: It's true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us.
Man1: He's right, this is a two-party system.
Man2: Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate.
Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote away.
[Kang and Kodos laugh out loud]
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The Catch-22 is that any person that would make a good president is smart enough not to want to run.
 
To all the members here from the US.

Just promise the rest of us that it won't be another fruitbat religious fundamentalist thicko warmonger. Please. Pretty please.

I'm not sure what the rest of the world did to have to suffer Dubya, but enough already!
 
sparkchaser said:
The Catch-22 is that any person that would make a good president is smart enough not to want to run.
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I once read an article by Gore Vidal, in which he paraphrased JFK as saying that cleaning up the mess in Washington would take about four years, and whoever started cleaning up the mess would be so maligned that he could be sure never to be re-elected. I guess nobody wants to be that guy. (Of course, nobody really wants to be JFK either.)
 
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." HL Mencken, Baltimore Evening Sun, July 1920.
 
sparkchaser said:
I have no favorites but I do have two questions that every American needs to ask themselves and honestly answer:


1. Is America* ready for a female president with such a polarizing personality?


2. Is America ready for a black president with an Arabic last name?



When I say America, I don't mean you specifically. I mean the U.S. as a whole people. Not your idealized version of what we can be but what we actually are. I think you'll find those answers to be for number one a reluctant no and for number two to be no.
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Well, I am ok with a woman President or a black president if they are where they need to be on the issues.. Ms. Clinton is not...

As far as Obama, I dont agree with him on a lot of issues but I do however believe that he is sincere and intelligent..

I
 
Sybarite said:
To all the members here from the US.

Just promise the rest of us that it won't be another fruitbat religious fundamentalist thicko warmonger. Please. Pretty please.

I'm not sure what the rest of the world did to have to suffer Dubya, but enough already!
Click to expand...

So I guess that is a "no" to Huckleberry, I mean Huckabee.


I don't think most Americans will vote for a man with the middle name of Hussein. Oh well.

Come November 4, I'm going to vote for whoever I believe will do the best job regardless of party affiliation.
 
sparkchaser said:
2. Is America ready for a black president with an Arabic last name?
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Obama is an ethnic Luo name with origins in Africa. "The Luo (also spelled Lwo) are a family of linguistically affiliated ethnic groups who live in an area that stretches from the southern Sudan, through northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into western Kenya, and ending in the upper tip of Tanzania. These people speak an Eastern Sudanic (Nilotic) language, a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family."

I don't think Obama has Arabic origins according to this bit from Wikipedia. Obama's middle name Hussein has Muslim Arabic connections though.


I am ready for a President with a different last name for the first time since 1988. Let's not do Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton! Let's get a name in a man of high personal honor, faultless integrity in public service, superior intelligence, a lifetime of leadership and policy experience, extraordinary global and foreign policy skills, and understands domestic needs.

"When you wish upon a star ......."
 
Be that as it may, the propaganda machines have already started churning out their crud. If you were to go outside and find 10 people and ask them what kind of surname they thought Obama was, what do you think they would say?
 
Or ..... "Obama? Is that like an Irishman from Alabama or something?" :D

(I'm Southern, so it makes silly sense to me, and since three of my grandparents were born in Alabama, I'm sure not slamming that state!)
 
sparkchaser said:
Be that as it may, the propaganda machines have already started churning out their crud. If you were to go outside and find 10 people and ask them what kind of surname they thought Obama was, what do you think they would say?
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"At least he's not named after femaile genitalia"?
 
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