You don't like Reagan? Big surprise. To u all republicans should be rounded up and shot I suppose.

Could he have gotten this far on a silver tongue, or is it that there are a lot of people that are really, really ticked off out there?

Obama is doing the emotive part without as much substantive backing as Gingrich and Reagan.

Gingrich, okay. But Reagan? The guy was the very definition of charismatic but vapid. He was nothing but a face for an administration that actually had plans, most of them criminal, some of them nothing short of treasonous (why does Ollie North still draw air?).

LOL you libs have selective reading now as well!

My argument is simply that his appeal is his charisma and charm rather than his platform.

Well, see Matt Yglesias's page, entry: Obama on the Economy

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/

14 Feb 2008 02:41 pm

I am sure he has ideas with regard to policy, but his message isn't his ideas, and those who are in his camp talk more about his charisma than what he believes.

The only exception I note are those who are rabidly against the war and want all soldiers home now-they seem to believe that Obama is the only candidate who will deliver this.

I think they have a point-he probably is the only candidate who will deliver anything close to what they want.

Just add an unpopular war and we'll have another George W. Bush.

Item 1 "...requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses. "
This is the sort of language that appeals to people who don't understand the difference between the federal government of the USA and a business or a family.

Item 2: "...“good faith” exclusionary rule exemptions,..." Isn't that better termed 'gutting the fourth amendment?
"... cuts in social spending from this summer’s “crime” bill to fund prison construction"
Because cuts in social spending won't have bad effects.

And so on.

I sense the standard Republican whipsaw argument going on here: "He is a deeply committed socialist - he stands for nothing".

In my own case, at least, I think Obama's a really smart guy with a pretty strong sense of what he wants to accomplish. My argument is simply that his appeal is his charisma and charm rather than his platform. He's consciously downplayed issues to avoid alienating anyone -- to a greater extent than Hillary or McCain, all do it to some extent -- and kept it on a more generic level of "hope" and "change."

The most blindlingly obvious part of his campaign is his eloquence, his talk of core principles and the excitement it all generates. To the lazy, its easy to write that up, contrast it with the wonkish Hillary, and then set up the contrast of the speaker vs the doer, the demagouge vs the wonk. Reminds me of the "dumb blonde" phenomenon. You look at the stunningly beautiful woman and assume she cant have brains, because one is trasnfixed by the most obvious. The perhaps no-more intellegent, but unattractive one will be recognized for their intellegence, for there are no distractions.

I sense the standard Republican whipsaw argument going on here: "He is a deeply committed socialist - he stands for nothing".
Whatever...

The cult of personality surrounding Obama is symptomatic of how liberals see their leaders....

Obama Personality Cult Redux

It is clear that this guy is trying to cultivate some weird Jim Jones following by mixing the philosophy of Pol Pot with a Sendero Luminoso-style organization.

As such, B. Hussein should be feared as an enemy of liberty.

Remember: you can't spell "Obama" without "Mao."