What is the real issue with Obama?

Great question, and what a slew of answers. Hypocrisy resounds. Sorry Johnny, not to jack your post, but I feel compelled to address many of your answerers as well.

Mr. Krinkle - The UN is hardly an anti-US institution. It is a conglomerate of nations, stationed in the US, mind you, founded by the US as well. You have to give respect to get respect. And Bush just pees on everyone. Besides, we have been the largets funder of the UN since its inception.

Anti-Social - How is k-12 education a socialist failure? Thats called investing in the future of the country. DO you honestly believe that having a public education system is a bad thing? Besides, Socialism does not mean lack of freedom. The Soviet Union meant that, but then they were Socialist in name only.

Hawaiian Hibiscus - tell me how the war in the Middle East is preserving our Freedom? Was Saddam really going to invade us? No. Is there a single country in the world that has the capability to actually invade us, and take the US down. No. Besides you didn't answer the question. Of course you have the right to vote for anyone, Johnny was asking what the problem with Obama is since all you read on YA is baseless name calling.

Knochen Schinken - I think he's pretty assured about who he is, where he comes from, and where he is going, as well as what he believes in. The man has written a book or two expressly about his identity. I have heard this remark before from people about him fumbling for words without the teleprompter. You would be mistaken. Not to mention that the ability to publically speak is hardly a requirement for President, or W Bush would be no where near the White House.

BeKind - Dude, he never gave Hillary the finger, and he didn't appoint anyone ot his administration. He appointed her to his campaign administration. And not for nothing, being a Senator is not a bad thing to be President, regardless of what the past is, merely because if you want to really reach any achievement, then you need to work with the Senate, and you better know damn well how it works. You speak about the bill to give Africa 845 billion in aid to fight pverty and disease. We spend that in a week in Iraq. One week. YOu then ask if he wants to run the world or the US. I do not believe he is the one who invaded a soveriegn country on lies, and then drive the country bankrupt trying to stick it out with an back asswards plan. Fighting poverty is noble goal. And if Africa can catch up to the world, we would have tremendous more allies, and resources as well. Its like the Godfather said, you make allies by giving, not taking.

BUt you do raise an interesting point:

People are upset that he hasn't "paid" dues. They think that Obama is on the affirmative action fast track to the Presidency. I find this laughable.

KZ - best healthcare sytems in the world? We have the best technology, but zero healthcare. over 50% of the country has no coverage, and the biggest cause of bankruptcy and debt in this country is medical bills. You make a frightened accusation that he will rule according to his experience of prejudice and take it out on the white man. That is fear speaking. Not rationality.

Not to mention, no he is not a Muslim for the 8 billionth time. His father was a muslim like I'm a Christian, my family is but not me. He was raised by his mom either way. And, despite what you think, Islam does not hate America. Radical Islam does. But not Islam. You are speaking about a small minute fraction of actual Muslims. BUt also remember, that Bush's policies have inflamed an entire region that was relatively in favor of us for a hundred years.

There are those that feel the issues are the ones that his supporters have said. For me (and I didn't vote for him for Senator), it is all about his experience, his record, and his policies. His record as a State Senator was artificially inflated by the Senate leaders to make him more appealing as a US Senator. His real record shows the majority of his votes were "present". That doesn't exactly show leadership. As a US Senator, he has spent most of his term running for president instead of representing the people that elected him. The votes he has made in both the US senate and the IL senate have been extremely liberal. I have seen his career since he started in politics with the speeches about "giving up law practice to teach because he cares about education and as a politician he can help more people". I didn't agree with his views then and don't see any difference now.

There's no issue. His "leftness" is still "right" of just about any "conservative" outside of the U.S. He's not a perfect candidate for me.

I am for NAFTA and CAFTA, and other free trade agreements, I am against universal healthcare, but at the same time, I just do not think any of these things will happen under Obama (i.e. we will have universal healthcare). Ultimately, decisions like these and on social issues will not experience rapid change from one president.

I will vote for Obama just because he is educated and has attained such positions (such as head of the Harvard Law Review) that only very astute individuals can achieve. I do not his achievements and I do not have the expertise to be a president, and I think the vast majority of us do not. We have to pick a president that we feel will make rational decisions on the international stage (i.e. concerning Israel and Iran, for example) and I think Obama is more likely to make the correct decisions than is John McCain.

I am sorry, but there is no way the Iraq War can be made into an overall positive. Yes, Iraqis will be better off, but so could Somalis, so could the Burmese, so could the Sudanese, yet we cannot start wars all across the world to save these nations, and that was not the purpose of the Iraq war. Republicans talk about little government, yet this war has made the government expenditure higher than it has been for a long while, and that is why they are running a budget deficit... Which HAS to be paid for by future taxpayers. All their talk of small government is completely meaningless. This unnecessary war has made our government bigger than ANY socialist tax system could have made it. With that, I say, I am sorry but I will NOT vote for someone who has an 88% in-step voting record with George W. Bush.

Its amazing how we tend to make things much more difficult that they really are. With Obama what you see is what you get! He would like to take from the rich and give to the poor... sort of a Robin Hood type if that's what you see. Others would call him a socialist or communists [each according to his need and god forgive us whats fair? ]. Myself Obama represents a shift in the American political psychic from independence and self reliance to big government which many believe can solve all our problems.

Well the proof is in the pudding as they say. Government creates a whole bunch more problems than its solves. In fact its hard to find a problem we as a nation are facing that hasn't been created by government, take your pick! As Obama would have it, the answer is more of the same...just more government. After all government works so well, doesn't it? Well that's what I see in Obama what do you think?

I don’t consider eight years as a state senator to be “training” for the presidency. It’s like a guy who goes to military school and joins the Army when he graduates. He may be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, but not as a General.

The people don’t seem to regard senators, even those in the U.S. Senate, as good choices for president. The last senator to be elected president was John F. Kennedy. Since then we have elected four governors. The key difference is executive experience. Governors have actually managed a state; senators have been members of a large committee. In a business sense, moving from Governor to President is something like moving from Chief Operating Officer to CEO; moving from Senator to President is more like moving from Chief Financial Officer to CEO.

Both Senators McCain and Obama lack executive management experience (as did Hillary), so IMO the issue is capacity rather than experience: Who is more capable of serving as president? Who has had more training and exposure to the governmental functions for which the president has significant responsibility?

As a practical matter, all good politicians test the political winds almost as often as they deny doing so, and they all shift with the prevailing winds. There is an old saying about atheists: “If they don’t believe there’s a god, they’d better be right when they die.” And if a president goes against the will of the people, he’d better be right before he goes to congress and demands passage of legislation or goes to the people when it’s time to seek reelection. LBJ proved that when he declined to run for a second term. George W. Bush would prove it again if he was eligible to run for another term.

Obama is regarded as something of a visionary; McCain is not. But, as Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana said a couple of years ago, “We don’t react to vision. We only react to crisis.”

I don’t really agree with your statement that “No socialist would ever mistake Obama for a socialist.” I have four friends who are socialists and they favor Obama. I don’t know if he’s “black enough,” but they each say he’s “not socialist enough.” They want government to nationalize the oil, banking and transportation industries and Obama hasn’t even suggested that. My position on that is that if the government can tax and regulate them enough, it doesn’t need to take title to their assets. The problem we have now is partly a perceptual one: Who’s in control? My wife and I have a dog. As a legal matter, we own him; as a practical matter, he owns us.

Woof! :)

Only you can answer that question for yourself while everyone has an opinion about any candidate.

The issue I have with Obama is written in the two books he wrote, his religious belief and he and his wife's reflection of America. Though he denies his Muslim heritage, his written words and actions denotes his allegiance to the Muslim heritage and Islam, both of which despise the United States of America and want nothing more that to see it destroyed whether it be by blood or from within. His bitterness toward America because of situations that we or he had no control over will always be in the underlying decisions made while the majority of this country is not of African desent. America has one of the best health systems in the world, the most prosperous country and though it is not perfect the kind of "Change" forseen here could destroy these and our nation. What is really sad is that the people that are backing him today will be the ones that will be hurt the most by his election in the future and then it will be too late.

Do you even know who your state senator is? Do you think your state senator should run for president? Being a state senator is no kind of experience to become president. He was a US senator for about 1 1/2 years before announcing his presidency. There hasn't been a US Senator become president in almost 50 years. Do you know why? It isn't considered good background to judge whether someone would make a good president. They have almost always been ex governors or vice presidents. Since there is no encumbent and only senators running, that is all we had to pick from in this election. Very wierd.

Look at Obama from another perspective. He had his competition in IL disqualified. Hillary was the first real competition he has ever had to face in a political campaign. He used body language such as brushing his shoulder and using " the finger" during a debate. Is this proper for a potential president? More like a hood. He just announced his first appointment to his administration before he has even officially become the nominee at the convention. The position is the administrator of the staff of the vice president. She happens to be Patti Solis Doyle, the campaign manager that Hillary fired. Real Classy.

I'm getting a look into this man's soul and I don't like what I see. He is extremely ambitious, unwilling to pay his dues or get the proper credentials to even run for president. He is very vindictive and coniving. He has a bill pending that is to give $845 billion dollars paid in taxes to the UN for proverty around the world, more specifically, Africa with other strings attached. Does he want to run the world or represent the citizens of the US? The more I see of this man, the less I can tolerate the thought of him becoming our president. I think his persona hides a multitude of ugly traits.

Your question makes an assumption which may not be true. One possibility is that there only ONE real issue - THE real issue. The second is that those factors indicated as issues by those for or against Obama are not real. The fact seems to be that those who believe some point of view is an issue, true or not, makes it an issue. What is true matters not at all. What people BELIEVE is true is what matters. Maybe that is THE REAL ISSUE. The next question seems obvious. What do you believe is the real issue?

nice try to propagandize!!!

11 years in office? he was in the Senate less than 1 year when he started officially running. He has missed most votes since he got into the Senate. His overall record is PATHETHIC.

Why to not Like him?

(And insulting people as irrational - when you are clueless? / so sad, so ignorant.)

Marxist, (or Socialist, Communist, pick one) Most liberal record in the short time in DC, ONLY in the position because of his race (the part that is non-white),

BTW - The founding fathers wanted CITIZENs, not career politicians, to run the country. His total resume is PATHETIC.

Not a racist/bigot? If not, then one of the biggest opportunitist EVER. (And to compare his Grandma to that hate-spewing bigot that he has YET to repudiate WTH)

Not a Muslim? Well most certainly NOT a CHRISTIAN - there was NOTHING coming out of that hatemongering "church" that was Chirst-like AT ALL.

Not a terrorist - well tell that to a baby who survives!! and abortion when BHusseinO voted to refuse MEDICAL TREATMENT!!@#)#U for the little survivor!

(Friends with supporters of Hamas and the folks who BOMB the PENTAGON - okey-dokey - nothing there either?)

Again IQ test for voting!!! The intelligent, the hard-working, the patriotic - all vote ANTI-democrap. The ignorant, the sheep, the traitors, the lazy folks with their hands out, and the criminals all vote FOR Democraps. Hmmmmm, tell you anything?

Thank you for this post. The thing that kills me is there are some people who just refuse to look at a website like FactCheck.org which is unbiased toward both candidates. They'd rather spread rumors and ridiculous lies about Obama because his father is from Kenya and they have been taught to hate any and everything connected to Africa. Ignorance is bliss and the opinions on Y!A are largely NOT based on facts. I don't believe the prejudice/racist views on Y!A are a majority of bloggers anywhere, because when I go to a site like msn.com, the abundance of ignorance is dramatically less. There are people who care about real issues, and not just smear tactics. My personal belief is that McCain and Hillary are paying people to camp out on Y!A and tell so many lies they start to actually believe the lies they are telling. At first it was sickening, but now I'm starting to find it amusing. I think it's great that no matter how many avatars each hater may develop, (and no matter what color they make these avatars) they'll only get one vote in November! The majority of the American public is smart enough to see past the smears. But are they intelligent enough to do their own independent research? That, to me, is the REAL ISSUE.

Obama '08

PS - I'm wit cha BROOOOKLYN! 100

NEWS FLASH @ Bekind, one way, or another, we're going to have a former Senator in the White House, this election, so that 50 year garbage is useless information.