Obama is the nominee
I’m calling for Obama to be the Democrat nominee for race. Heck, if the TV stations can call it, why can’t a blog? Especially after last night’s rout, which I stayed up all night to watch and glee over.
Check the math:
There are only six contests remaining in the Democratic primary calendar and only 217 pledged delegates left to be awarded. Only 7 percent of the pledged delegates remain on the table. There are 260 remaining undeclared superdelegates, for a total of 477 delegates left to be awarded.
With North Carolina and Indiana complete, Barack Obama only needs 172 total delegates to capture the Democratic nomination. This is only 36 percent of the total remaining delegates
…
Since February 5, the Obama campaign has netted 107 superdelegates, and the Clinton campaign only 21. Since the Pennsylvania primary, much of it during the challenging Rev. Wright period, we have netted 24 and the Clinton campaign 17.
If all this is gobbledegook to you, don’t worry about it. The point is, Obama is home free. He is the man. And I’m gonna book a ticket to the US for October to work for his campaign. I need more political experience. Who’s coming with me?
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Sunny, I agree. Obama is going to win the nomination, but you will be wasting your money on that ticket. Obama will stand no chance against the Republican opponent because in the real battle (which this is not) race will play a big part. And I doubt if the Americans generally have the balls to elect a Black president. Hillary would have a better chance against John McCain.
Suggest you check whether your ‘donation’ of time and travel is legal (if you plan to team up with the official Obama campaign), unless you are a US citizen. There are pretty strict laws governing this.
Suggest you check whether your ‘donation’ of time and travel is legal (if you plan to team up with the official Obama campaign), unless you are a US citizen. There are pretty strict laws governing this.
I need more political experience.
you said it
.
Why would you want to work for a right wing politian? I thought you were Left wing? or is it because he is black?
Justforfun
Mind your carbon footprint.
IS OBAMA RIGHT WING?
Sofi – arn’t all American politians Right wing? There is no party of the Left in America. Just parties to the left of those further on the Right than them. A bit like its is now in the UK
I’ll leave it to the political historians to elaborate.
justforfun
Sunny –
You go to town to book a ticket, I’m off to the bookies to cash in on McCain whilst they are still taking bets.
There is no question in my mind that America is ready, willing and able to vote for a black President. It just isn’t Obama.
Sunny,
Before you and anyone else from the Guardian’s CIF decide go over to America campaigning for Obama, you might want to learn what happened the last time the Guardian tried to interfere in the American elections:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/2004-11-04-brits-letters_x.htm
History does have a habit of repeating itself.
I also wonder what you would make of Americans coming over to the UK and campaigning for the Conservative Party at the next general election.
Sunny, you got contacts and a place to stay out there? Or you gonna turn up and offer your services?
Working for/in an election campaign is hard work, long hours but a great experience.
I won’t be rooting for him but hope you have a great time if you do go.
Though I half want him to win to see how Gary Younge turns his victory into a “black president more evidence of US racism” article!
Well, Sunny, I hope you’ve got a substantial incentive for doing it.
I just wondering the other day, when are we gonna have someone like Obama in the UK? What do you think? Can we do it here?
Would you need a work permit?
Heh. I guess you will be surprised when Obama wins it, then. I won’t. I consider winning Clinton his biggest battle, because in fact, he has been fighting the Republicans (McCain + right-wing media) and the Clinton machine over the last two months, and he has defeated them. What a remarkable achievement! Clinton will be out in a couple of weeks, and then… Obama will unite Democrats, get a kick-ass VP (Webb…), and McCain will not have a chance. At least 35% of the electorate will not vote Obama because of his race, but then again I expect a lot more will not vote for McCain because of Bush.
Here is why I know McCain will lose: Iraq, failing economy, Bush’s third mandate, and the fact that Obama has managed to create a huge base which is excited with his candidacy. McCain does not generate that excitement among conservatives and wingnuts – he will be the anti-Obama/liberal candidate… and elections always tilt to the one that has a base.
a) So is anyone gonna mention Condie as VP and what that will mean? Will it split the black vote or, more likely, make it easier for white McCain supporters to take the moral high ground while giving race carreerists a ready-made analysis if he Obama.
b) “What do you think? Can we do it here?”
Muhamed (peace be upon you), do you have to be black, or mixed race to fir in with your vision of a British Obama? Does Disraeli count?
c) Did someone mention Gary Younge? He makes me laugh. I wonder sometimes whether he wishes — like others — that he wasn’t typecast as a race expert. But then that’s the role he has created for himself. Six months ago he was having a pop at people for treading carefully around the issue of race, even ignoring it. More recently, his moaning about race has become a factor.
Math? MATH? You come from Southgate, dude
Sunny: my point about legality is actually quite serious. Perhaps you should write to me about how people have managed to do this properly(unless you already have good advice and contacts on this).
I wrote a longish (but unfinalised) response to your piece on Wright – not so much disagreeing but filling in what I think some of the backdrop to AA churches and their intermingling of secular/sacred/political themes and traditions. If interested, I will work it up a bit more and send it to you. I didn’t finish it/post it because I decided to quit posting on UK blogs about the US election.
I was(am) a Clinton supporter but was an early Obama supporter up until right before Super Tuesday(I can and do actually vote and am quite active in DP politics).
Building some unity is going to be very complicated; some of the core and key problems centre around the way Obama supporters(not necessarily the Obama official campaign) have (not)handled the misogyny reigning in the Obama-supporting MSM and netroots and the casual accusations of racism made against Clintons and too many of their supporters. Just a heads-up on this. The discourses/politics about race, gender and class in the USA have quite different roots and trajectories compared with the UK.
US campaigns can be amazingly intense and more policy-driven than UK caricatures suggest; also, very dirty (like Axelrove — oops being a bit disunited) and trivial.
Hope you enjoy it.
Southall. SOUTHALL.
I am going away now.
Sunny, I’m coming with you. See u in d US in October. Obama is sure a political icon. God bless his presidency.
LOL! I did stop and think ‘Er Southgate?’
Yes they do say “do the math” in Southall. Along with wearing 10 gallon Stetsons and riding up and down the Broadway on horses.
Elaine – yes, send it! I’m sure it’ll be interesting. We could debate it on here…
I haven’t sorted out the legalities admittedly. But I’m not doing it for the money, only the experience. I have some contacts, but not enough.
I’m confident that Obama can become president. I’ll write more later on why. HOPE!!! CHANGE!!! BELIEVE!!! YOU BASTARDS!!! (just joking!)
Do Americans actually have the balls to elect someone who is willing to talk to nations instead of destroying them?
Do Americans have the guts to elect someone who is a minority?
Do Americans have the guts to elect someone who goes against the grain of national thinking?
How much of his policies and principles will Obama be willing to trade to become President?
America needs to become a world nation and not a seperatist nation hell bent on using military might to impose its will and that of its allies on a fed-up world.
Sunny -
The illegality has nothing to do with being paid by the Obama campaign; it is to do with you and anyone else – as a non-US citizen – making a ‘donation.’
No candidate can accept donations from non-US citizens. How that is defined is somewhat complicated.
I am not Obama’s biggest fan, but I re-emphasise that this can create potential problems for him: non-US people travelling to the States for the specific purpose of campaigning is very problematic.
It is not simply because it is bad PR (like the Guardian thing – which really backfired). There are quite strict campaign finance laws that cover these issues. Check it out very carefully. I do know what I am talking about.
Yeah I’ve been Obamaizing for a while myself. God knows why. I actually like all three of them, they are all a lot better than Bush. That is a lie. I can’t stand Hillary Clinton, but McCain might actually be inspired in office. I have hope.
@Sunny
Not exactly rooting for Obama, but according to the federal election commission looks like you can volunteer services to his campaign though not contribute any money…
GLHF
http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/foreign.shtml
I need more political experience.
Contender for understatement of the year.
Dave Bones – How can you like McCain or Clinton when they are the same as what is there already?
Can Hilary “I’ll Bomb Iran” Clinton bring peace and stability to the ME? Hell No. She is more extreme than Bush himself.
McCain is going the way of Bush to get elected.
Thus it leaves a choice of much the same (McCain and Clinton) or change (Obama) – the choice is that simple?
Clinton from being such a front runner has slipped badly and can’t really lead a global superpower.
The world needs change in America and none of the other two provide that.
Do you want 4 more years of Bush cause that is what you’ll get with McCain and Hilary.
I am not sure that Sunny has forgiven me for accusing him of living in Southgate yet.
Sid, do they have saloons in Southall?
The world needs change in America and none of the other two provide that
Translation: Genocidal Dictators, Cleric Fascists, Anti-semites and their flunkies like “Avi Cohen” (yeah, thats your name really, try something with a bit more Mohammed in it) need change in America.
Having a pathetic Chamberlain-lite figure like the Obamamessiah in the White House means that said fascists and dictators can sleep safely in their beds at night, instead of getting the noose or the hellfire missile up the arse they so richely deserve.
Translation: Genocidal Dictators, Cleric Fascists, Anti-semites and their flunkies like “Avi Cohen†(yeah, thats your name really, try something with a bit more Mohammed in it) need change in America.
Coming from someone called “Stating the Obvious”, that’s a bit shite. Try something with a bit more George in it.
would be amazing to go out and work on the campaign. i know an ex-ippr peep who is already out there. unfortunately i’ve got bills to pay so will carry on making noise on this side of the atlantic. however, if you’re interested in organising some sort of fundraising thing here, please let me know.
STO or should that be STOPID – Yeah like Bush’s policy has really worked real well. America is now more despised across the world than when he came to power. So yeah shit lets try more of the same! Real clever huh?
If his policy is so feckin popular why the hell are candidates saying they stand for change. Why don’t you go back to Harry’s Place where they think like this.
Yeah like Bush’s policy has really worked real well.
Bush’s ‘policy’ was to spread American hegemony, wreak revenge on the Muslim world for 9/11 and secure natural resources.
It worked a treat.
America is now more despised across the world than when he came to power.
Maybe, maybe not. But Muslims and Islam are also despised. Hence the balance of perceived ideological good vs bad powers is restored and America can go about its imperial business with impunity.
The Republicans have succeeded in their unstated policies.
It’s a shame that you are too blind to realise this.
Sorry for the side note but BB and Sunny you would do well to read this excellent piece:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-loathsome-smearing-of-israels-critics-822751.html
It is actions like this that harm Israel much more than me who speak out and the community itself is getting fed-up of these antics.
Sunny, your probably right, Obama is the man that will probably win and he’s slightly the best of the bunch, ie. calling for change. But it’s one thing hoping he gets in, another for outright campaigning. It looks like you hold no illusions in the man, so will be disappointed as we all were with Blair. Elections in the US are very different from the ones here. There you need $$’s to even run, so have to rely on big business and the financial elite, the very same people who put the US in the mess it’s in today. American capital can live with a Obama at the White House, that’s enough to make anyone nervous or even think change will be radical enough. The danger is, if he doesn’t deliver, as in Blair’s case, it pisses genuine progressive people off as has happened here.
Lets hope he wins, but have no illusions or we’ll all be very disappointed.
Big Avram – How has it worked a treat?The policy was to lower Oil Prices below $20 per barrel and control a reliant supply of oil. They have neither as oil is over $120 per barrel and oil supply from Iraq isn’t stable as thye hoped.
The policy hasn’t worked.
Muslims and Islam were despised before Bush came to power so not much has changed there. America has lost more goodwill due to the Republicans.
Avi- I don’t like Hillary at all. (check my comment) She is dangerous. There is something about McCain as a veteran I think could work for Americans right now. I’m not holding my breath but I get a feeling he’s not like the others from some of the things he said, obviously I’d like Obama to win, I’d also like Obama to be the Obama everyone wants him to be but I fear that he isn’t.
Dave, McCain has been making a lot of gaffes these months, and the media has given him a free pass. He has shown that he doesn’t know the difference between Shiahs and Sunnis, and how they relate to Iran and Al Qaeda. He has said several times that he knows little about the economy and how it works. He also said that he *will have* (notice the future tense) an energy plan so good that Americans will not have to go overseas to die for oil (!). And this is the guy that will solve any problems?
Clinton is far more competent than McCain, but her Bosnia lie was a damn lie, and confirmed that she is inherently and shamelessly dishonest. She also shows she is willing to break the rules (Florida/Michigan), and fight dirty: witness her comments against Rev. Wright. Yet, Obama did not once use politics of association for his attacks, and the Clintons have a lot to account for.
People should be measured by how the behave when the stakes are high, and Obama has shown to be competent and decent candidate in the Primaries against an opponent that has name recognition and who was part of a very successful presidency.
I can’t see why Obama would be any different as a President.
Means-justify-the-ends-type thinking again:
http://tinyurl.com/64vpy5
Shame on you Hillary. *Shakes head*
Hmmm yeah it’s the ‘I’ll destroy this village to save it’ strategy…
Big Avram = muzumdar.
I’m hoping you are right Ravi
‘The point is, Obama is home free. He is the man’
That may be true now for the Democrats but what about the other half of the country? The Yanks I work with, are based in urban centres of Chicago, LA and New York and are routing for Obama but tell me we’re all getting too excited. They say two things, one, despite the goings on with the Democrats, America, and specifically middle America will still not accept a black man in the White House. And two, the Obama Clinton race, which still has no end, has allowed McCain a free ride, projecting himself as a sensible, quiet kind of guy that Middle America can live with….
We can only hope they are wrong.
Yay Obama! Yes, we can!
I agree with Ravi when he writes:
“… consider winning Clinton his biggest battle, because in fact, he has been fighting the Republicans (McCain + right-wing media) and the Clinton machine over the last two months, and he has defeated them.”
However, I also believe the Republican campaign machine is dirtier and its “filth†will exponentiate during the election. For example, in Indiana (Clinton’s home-state), Republicans were voting for Clinton as part of a Republican-supported defense tactic. They believe that it would be easier for McCain to beat Clinton in the presidential election than Obama. Thus, I think the Obama and the Democratic Party need to make sure their united and strong for the upcoming “fight”. Many in the States are asking if continuing the Democratic primary elections will further divide the party. If so, should the super delegates just name the Democratic candidate now? However, there is also the argument how can a party call itself “Democratic” and maintain its integrity if it won’t let the democratic process complete itself.
p.s. For all Sikh supporters of Obama checkout the “Sikhs For Obama” group on facebook. We need to organize ourselves at a grassroots level in 2008!