rw wrote:
Opus wrote:
See, that's the problem with you partisan types. You refuse to admit
that your party is culpable for anything beyond ignorance.

Let's see. You're trying to get me to support some third party that
doesn't exist. ...

McDopus doesn't live in the real world. In the real world only
the people who are elected get to govern.

I rarely agree with _Chicago Tribune_ editorials, the Trib
usually comes across as a Republican mouthpiece and cheerleader,
so this one surprised hell out of me.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/o...ewsopinion-hed
December 6, 2006

Obama should run

With the 2008 presidential field taking shape, the striking thing is how
little excitement most of the possible candidates are likely to evoke.

There are the polarizing figures: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rudy Giuliani
and Newt Gingrich. There are the candidates who've been here before,
such as Sens. Joe Biden, John McCain and John Kerry. There are the
little-known politicians whose best hope may be the second spot on the
ticket, like Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and former New York Gov. George
Pataki. There are the capital veterans, including Rep. Duncan Hunter
(R-Calif.) and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), whose importance inside
the Beltway may make them imagine they have electoral strength beyond it.

And then there is Barack Obama. It's safe to say that when he decided to
run for the Senate in 2004, he didn't imagine there would be lots of
people now urging him to seek the highest office in the land. But ever
since his electrifying address to the last Democratic convention, he has
been marked for greater things.

To run for president would be a big leap for someone who just a couple
of years ago was commuting to Springfield as a state senator. There is a
plausible case why Obama should bide his time and burnish his
credentials for the future--plausible, but not persuasive. When a leader
evokes the enthusiasm that Obama does, he should recognize that he has
something special to offer, not in 2012 or 2016, but right now.

What would he bring to the race that others don't? The most obvious is
an approach that transcends party, ideology and geography. In his
convention speech, Obama demolished the image of a nation of
irreconcilable partisan camps: "We worship an awesome God in the blue
states, and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries
in the red states."

No one else has shown a comparable talent for appealing to the centrist
instincts of the American people--instincts that often go unsatisfied as
each party labors to rally its most uncompromising factions. After the
divisive events of the last decade, the nation may be ready for a voice
that celebrates our common values instead of exaggerating our differences.

Any presidential race is a long shot, and there is no guarantee that
Obama could succeed. But he may never again find such favorable
circumstance.

With his unifying themes, he would raise the tone of the campaign. His
intellectual depth--he was editor of the Harvard Law Review and taught
law at the University of Chicago--and openness would sharpen the policy
debate. He could help the citizenry get comfortable contemplating
something that will happen sooner or later--a black president. His
magnetic style and optimism would draw many disenchanted Americans back
into the political process.

He and the nation have little to lose and much to gain from his candidacy.

Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune