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During an interview on ABC's "This Week" Barack Obama discussed race versus class in the context of affirmative action. Here is an interesting excerpt from an article in the San Francisco Gate:

George Stephanopoulos asked Obama if his daughters should be able to benefit from affirmative action when the time comes for them to go to college. The girls "should probably be treated by any admissions officer as folks who are pretty advantaged," Obama said.

Stephanopoulos was driving at the question of whether race-based affirmative action programs are still needed. Another way to frame the issue is whether race or class is the more important factor in our society. Are minorities raised in middle-class or wealthy homes still held back by racism? Or should we now focus on socioeconomic status as the principal barrier keeping people from reaching their potential?

Obama's answer, basically, was yes. To both questions.

Obama has repeatedly gone on record as a supporter of affirmative action. But "if we have done what needs to be done to ensure that kids who are qualified to go to college can afford it," he said in the ABC interview, then "affirmative action becomes a diminishing tool for us to achieve racial equality in this society."

He seemed to side with those who think class predominates when he said, "I think that we should take into account white kids who have been disadvantaged and have grown up in poverty and shown themselves to have what it takes to succeed."

While Barack Obama seems to have many, many negative characteristics, it is nice to see that him publically identifying that programs such as affirmative action that fundamentally judge people by their race are harmful in principle. Unfortunately, like most major politicians today, he is a Pragmatist so he still supports affirmative action for other reasons.

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A snippet about Obama's South Carolina campaign, from a blog hosted by the Washington Post:

GREENWOOD, S.C. -- The brochure being handed out in South Carolina shows a picture of the candidate with his hands together and eyes closed. In large letters, it reads "ANSWERING THE CALL."

Inside, voters learn of a candidate who was "CALLED TO CHRIST" and even larger letters is a "COMMITTED CHRISTIAN" and is quoted saying, "I believe in the power of prayer."

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MoveOn.org has officially endorsed Obama bin laden for President

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02...a/index.html?hp

No surprise there. MoveOn is about left wing as it gets in American politics and so is Obama. His positions on nearly every major issue are frightening. He would be able to do tremendous damage to this country in four years.

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All I knows is this: I'm not voting Clinton or Romney because I know their views on abortion. I know abortion is not a topic discussed hardly at all in this race, but while I could in good conscience vote for a candidate who proposes to raise taxes because of other off-setting issues, I could never in good conscience vote for a candidate who would tighten controls on abortion. I don't know Huckabee's or Obama's view on abortion, though I doubt I'll be in love with Huckabee's. For me, out of ignorance for the time-being, that leaves Obama as the only candidate I would give much consideration.

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Does Clinton want to reduce current abortion rights? Didn't her husband veto a so-called "partial birth abortion" bill? Does she have a different stand? Of all 4 current front runners, Clinton would be my current choice, but I've never heard her say anything about abortion.

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I'm not voting Clinton [...] because I know their views on abortion.

Why does Hillary Clinton's view on abortion make her unsupportable in your view? She wants to uphold Roe v. Wade as the "law of the land" although she wants to undergo many Socialist measures to prevent unintended pregnancies like publicly funded contraceptives, publicly funded family planning services and the like. You can read about her views here.

I don't know Huckabee's [...] view on abortion

He calls legalized abortion an "American holocaust." Mike Huckabee is the worst candidate of either party.

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It seems to me that Obama has tapped into something with his message of "change". I think most Americans have a sense that things are badly broken in Washington and they see Obama as a fresh face who might be able to fix what ails us. Unfortunately most Americans are entirely clueless when it comes to what is causing our problems. Worse yet, nobody is paying much attention to Obama's policy solutions, which consist mainly of more socialism. Exactly the opposite of what we need.

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Yup, Obama's marketing campaign has the right sense of life, with the wrong intellectual content. A lot of people are reacting positively to that sense of life. If it gets him the presidency, I think he will have so called "political capital", unless some shady facts about his past are dredged up along the way. Myrhaf's morality play is spot on, the knight in shining armor is hollow inside, but people might well choose him in preference to the same old tired folk who they think are dragging their country down.

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I could have sworn I read Clinton had some anti-abortion platforms, but it seems I'm wrong. Perhaps I only thought that because I compared her to Giuliani, but her abortion stances are relatively clean with the modest exception of supporting parental notification.

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I could have sworn I read Clinton had some anti-abortion platforms, but it seems I'm wrong. Perhaps I only thought that because I compared her to Giuliani, but her abortion stances are relatively clean with the modest exception of supporting parental notification.

Hillary to me is kind of a hippie. Hippies weren't very rational were they? I don't think so.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a258/Dan...30/clintons.jpg

Also I read that Obama admired Ronald Reagan. I guess that doesn't add anything to the discussion but I just thought I'd type that.

Edited by dadmonson
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Obama supports individual gun rights

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer 39 minutes ago

MILWAUKEE - Barack Obama said Friday that the country must do "whatever it takes" to eradicate gun violence following a campus shooting in his home state, but he believes in an individual's right to bear arms. Obama said he spoke to Northern Illinois University's president Friday morning by phone and offered whatever help his Senate office could provide in the investigation and improving campus security. The Democratic presidential candidate spoke about the Illinois shooting to reporters while campaigning in neighboring Wisconsin.

The senator, a former constitutional law instructor, said some scholars argue the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees gun ownerships only to militias, but he believes it grants individual gun rights.

"I think there is an individual right to bear arms, but it's subject to commonsense regulation" like background checks, he said during a news conference.

He said he would support federal legislation based on a California law that would facilitate immediate tracing of bullets used in a crime. He said even though the California law was passed over the strong objection of the National Rifle Association, he thinks it's the type of law that gun owners and crime victims can get behind.

Five people, including the shooter, were killed during Thursday's ambush inside a lecture hall. Authorities said the two guns used were purchased legally less then a week ago.

"Today we offer them our thoughts and prayers, but we also have to offer them our determination to do whatever it takes to eradicate this violence from our streets, from our schools, from our neighborhoods and our cities," Obama said. "That is our duty as Americans."

Although Obama supports gun control, while campaigning in gun-friendly Idaho earlier this month, he said he does not intend to take away people's guns.

At his news conference, he voiced support for the District of Columbia's ban on handguns, which is scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court next month.

"The notion that somehow local jurisdictions can't initiate gun safety laws to deal with gang bangers and random shootings on the street isn't born out by our Constitution," Obama said.

Obama also:

• Said Clinton now is attacking him for watering down a bill to regulate the nuclear industry that she also voted for and touted on her Web site. He suggested her attack was made out of desperation because his campaign is ahead.

"I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she's feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal," he said. "But I think this kind of gamesmanship is not what the American people are looking for."

• Seemed to hedge on his statement last year that he would accept public funds if his Republican opponent did as well. Likely GOP nominee John McCain has said he would adhere to such an agreement, but Obama was not willing to make such a firm commitment.

"If I am the nominee, then I will make sure that our people talk to John McCain's people to find out if we're willing to abide by the same rules and regulations with respect to the general election going forward," Obama said. "But it would be presumptuous of me to say now that I'm locking myself into something when I don't even know if the other side is going to agree to it and I'm not the nominee yet."

• Blamed problems with the economy on a "failure of leadership in Washington" that includes decisions by the Bush administration on taxes and the Clinton administration on trade. He criticized "politicians (who) tout NAFTA as a success when they're in the White House and then call it a mistake when they're on the campaign trail."

• Said he has not considered whether he would give up his Senate seat if he wins the presidential nomination.

In my uninformed opinion, this guy seems awfully wishy washy.

Edited by dadmonson
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All I knows is this: I'm not voting Clinton or Romney because I know their views on abortion.

In my opinion, Romney would have been by far the best candidate, but he had no chance because all the single-issue anti-choicers hated him for having been pro-choice and all the single pro-choicers hated for not being pro-choice.

I am looking forward to the day when abortion ceases to be an issue in American elections.

while I could in good conscience vote for a candidate who proposes to raise taxes because of other off-setting issues, I could never in good conscience vote for a candidate who would tighten controls on abortion.

Well, this is what I mean when I say "single-issue"...

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Obama will be speaking at my school in about 2 hours. I don't know if I'll go or not, he's said some pretty ridiculous things before and I don't know if I trust him.

However, he seems slightly less Socialist than Clinton, at least to the extent that when Collectivism starts destroying the country there's a slight chance that he'll put things in perspective and go "you know, maybe I was wrong" whereas Clinton would say "this isn't working, we obviously need more Socialism."

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You guys don't like Obama only because he is the ANTICHRIST!

Details, details.

My understanding (which I haven't bothered to verify) is that his congregation in Illinois is run by a nutcase.

It will be interesting to see if (assuming he gets the Democratic nod) the media ever hold his feet to the fire about what he means by "change."

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