what are barack obama's flaws?

i'm surprised that everyone's saying clinton's flaw was "untrustworthiness" - he was a dlc democrat for years and that's exactly what we got; i think he actually tried to follow through on pretty much everything he said he would

to me his tragic flaw was his charm - he could charm the pants off anyone, and it brought his world down around his ears

I followed the '84 race when I was 8 </gabbneb>

those things are the same thing!

xpost to tracer hand

liberals were blinded by triumphalism

Did liberals believe Clinton then? Most of'em were warily happy there was a Democrat in the WH.

untrustworthiness and charm are the same thing??

gabbneb is a gr8 poster

xpost

i can see how they'd be part of the same package for sure

btw the classic politician's answer to this question, which most of you have already made, is "sometimes i'm just too honest"

suzy is surprisingly inclusive with her class-hatreds

lol

charm at its logical endpoint is about misleading, i think!

xposts

I followed the '84 race when I was 8 </gabbneb>

I have a hazy memory of announcing to my first-grade teacher I was a Mondale fan, but I have no idea why: probably just picked up bits of conversation from my parents.

I was the only Mondale fan in my elementary school, and I did it just to be contrarian (and Reagan creeped me out even then).

back in '92 before the election some friends and i walked around the playground chanting "clin-ton."

Friends With Money is good

haha i remember seein pictures on the news of the available candidates (= nixon, humphrey, wallace) and thinkin THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME ie UGLY, i shall vote for NONE OF THEM

i was 8 and my policy analysis stands

I was one of three kids (out of 25 or 30) in my 5th-grade class who voted for Dukakis in a mock election. I was also the only white kid who did so.

the Hitchens book ethan mentioned has a fairly detailed indictment of Clinton's war on welfare, if you get past the author's breathless rhetoric.

yeah if he would chill with how clinton is the worst man in history who violently rapes every woman in sight its actually a substantive policy critique from the left

i was pro-clinton in 2nd grade because my parents told me to be so

and im pro-obama now because my college tells me to be so

if im lucky i wont ever have to make a decision in my life

i voted bush in my fourth grade mock election because my dad voted republican. ;_;

i would have been mean to you as i was instructed to be mean to bush supporters by my parents

you wouldn't even have been alive! it was bush v. dukakis.

:( i would have been 3

Yeah, elementary-school mock elections are just a handy way for teachers to assay the political opinions of their students' parents.

challenging opinions

I remember a surprising amount of support for Perot in 9th grade, though.

i voted for dole as a joke ;)

good joke dude

i vote for dole pineapples

i felt bad for him like when he fell and his shriveled up arm that he got from war heroism

are you going to send a sympathy vote to john mccain? i guess he hasn't fallen yet.

if he falls then maybe - hes way less pitiful than dole - but most people are

arm not working at all > arm not working above shoulder

exploring the contours and lines there which were uniquely Obama's.
exploring the contours and lines there which were uniquely Obama's.
exploring the contours and lines there which were uniquely Obama's.
exploring the contours and lines there which were uniquely Obama's.
exploring the contours and lines there which were uniquely Obama's.
exploring the contours and lines there which were uniquely Obama's.
exploring the contours and lines there which were uniquely Obama's.
exploring the contours and lines there which were uniquely Obama's.
exploring the contours and lines there which were uniquely Obama's.
exploring the contours and lines there which were uniquely Obama's.

i liked carter in 80 cuz of georgia, root for the home boy (80 was a big year for georgia in general) and also cuz the only ronald i knew was ronald mcdonald and who in the world would vote ronald mcdonald for president. i was SHOCKED when he won.

jj ty for bringing this thread back to the real issues

mcdonald/grimace 08

i argued for carter in my 6th-grade presidential debate in 1980. i was 11. i have no idea what i said, but i remember being pwned by the girl who was repping for john anderson (brainy cute girl named dee-dee, with big glasses; i had a secret crush on her). i remember her going off about "now we've got these gas prices and hostages everywhere!"

wow you grew up in a doonesbury strip

my brother supported Bush when he was 4 because he liked shrubbery

xpost it felt more like peanuts.

tipsy you could have killed her on "these gas prices everywhere" -- anderson was proposing a 50¢ per gallon gas tax

lol curtis is that true

now i feel like i let jimmy down.

LOL at 'job in muppet museum'; people who spend any time hating on me clearly need other occupations besides this - I spend zero time on hating you. Really. Also it's just American ickleboys of a certain vintage, nobody else gives a shit.

Pragmatism over Obama should probably rule the day. I've gotta say I've got major empathy for a single-parent/child of divorce guy who worked his arse off for scholarships; remember 'bittergate' (agh) was friendly fire from an On the Bus person and perhaps rich schmucks really threatened by such a possibility for dialogue on class, so put the boot in, at least once this broke. I would not be at all surprised, they like the general public to stay stupid and obsess over trivialities.

Can remember supporting Carter when I was eight; neighbour kid wrote to him with pointers for dealing with getting bullied by GOP and wangled invite to the inauguration (same kid is now radical left minister). HATED Reagan because by this time a) political grandmother went all Body Snatchers/ 'that broken down cowboy actor' whenever he was on TV b) Iran hostages freed on day of inauguration looked fishy as fuck even to 11-year-old me.

never underestimate the shrubbery vote

http://content.ytmnd.com/content/0/f/8/0f86da785ddaf8004a05a12d0a3dd38d.jpg

^ ban

In Kindergarten I voted for Ronald Reagan in the school election. When my (liberal) parents asked why, I said "He lost the debate, so I wanted him to win something."