Barack is not where he is because of anything he has done. He is there because he is black and a good speaker who says nothign but says it in a sing song manner that puts a trance over the young and dumb.
I disagree. If Barack were a white man who were a good public speaker he might still be in the same position that he is now. Right now our choices are Bush III (as I've seen McCain labelled in the media right now), Clinton II (and that's giving her more credit than she deserves, imo) and SOMEONE DIFFERENT. Someone whose voice obviously is resonating with a lot of voters, voters who have been disenfranchised by the current system. Someone who is at least viewed (fairly or not) as not being part of the Washington machine, or at least not as big a part of it as the others are. The idiots who will vote for him strictly because he's black will be more than offset by the idiots who will vote against him strictly because he's black. In 2004, black people made up 11% of the vote. White people over the age of 65 made up 16% of the vote. (
source) Being black is not going to have a net positive effect on his campaign, it's one of those things that makes a good news story and the bullshit news shows like to focus on it because it's a shocking sound bite.
Funk said something about 'plenty of [black] people are being encouraged to vote for him because he represents "[black people]"'. That's exactly who someone should vote for: the person who represents them. Not in the sense that they look like you, but in the sense you can relate to them and they will lead in the manner that most fits your beliefs. Which candidate represents you the best, Funk? The grizzled old sexagenarian P.O.W. who was a pretty decent candidate 8 years ago and then had his spirit crushed by the Bush campaign, eventually selling out his beliefs and bowing down to the current administration that has left our country in the shitter? The 60 year-old former hippie turned battle axe with her Yale law degree, history of questionable if not outright shady dealings and 35 years of involvement (not experience, per se, just being around it) in a corrupt system that represents no one other than large corporations and lobbyists? Or the candidate who is
most outside the current system, is the closest to being of the same generation as anyone reading this post, has admitted to youthful indiscretions like the rest of us humans, and speaks of hope and change and ideals? I'm not black, but I'm one of "them" that Obama represents.
Those are just my opinions, I'm sure some of you will disagree. But at this point, someone who only had good public speaking skills would still be one qualification up on our current President. And I think Obama has a lot more than "just saying nothing".