Obama wins nomination ??

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Saaf_laandon_mo

Dint Monica Lewinksy get very close too?

All lies that was.... media fabrication........ oh hang on a minute....... no,.... that's right it was the President who was lying wasn't it. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman....." Another fine example to set the world...

[BBKing]

find it so odd that America has always been thought of as the country where women have true equality

It is? Where? Fighting for women's rights has gone on there for a good long time, in fact we in the UK got women's votes in 1918, the US* officially not until 1920, fifty years after blacks. However ours wasn't what you'd call totally fair until 1928, since it was at a different age.

* Some bits, particularly in the West, went their own way before that, but the 19th Amendment is when it became part of the legislative foundation of the country.

Thatcher proved that if a woman does put herself forward (in the so-called nasty, mysoganist party)

Probably not the right thread, but the point about the Tories is that they *always* fail to generalise - their own are judged by different standards to the rest of us - Boris bans tube drinking for us oiks, but is presumably fine with the decent chaps at the Bullingdon Club or the Henley Regatta tanking up. This is pretty much the key reason I'll never vote for them. The nasty, misogynistic stuff comes out in anti-abortion people like Nadine Dorries or any of them who's ever tried to blame single mothers for the ills of society.

Mind you, it was a Tory government that equalised the voting age for women, but not a Tory government any of the current lot would sit easily in.

[frogstamper]

Originally Posted by punky

I'm sure there are women out there that argue Thatcher hurt women's chances of being re-elected in the future. Unless Labour or the ever-so-enlightened Lib Dems, have any women in the ranks willing to step up, we'll never know. However, with Harriet Harman as deputy leader of the Labour party, who knows?

I wouldn't have thought many people man or woman, who actually lived through the Thatcher years, thought she done much at all to advance the causes of women, quite the opposite.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Breaking news from the Hillary camp... I'll try & grab a screenshot from CNN or something...

[v0id]

If all this fuss is made about a campaign to elect a candiadate, what's the actual election going to be like?

[Tezcatlipoca]

Here we are, got it...

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Matt D

Here we are, got it...

I was trying to think of that guy's name to mention in another thread. I think he works for the MOD now doesn't he - Head of PR or something I think....... or maybe he's Gordon Brown's personal guru

---------- Post added at 20:49 ---------- Previous post was at 20:47 ----------

Originally Posted by v0id

If all this fuss is made about a campaign to elect a candidate, what's the actual election going to be like?

Well that's Americans for you ................

[frogstamper]

I remember that guy, "Comical Ali", he claimed the Americans had been completely routed from Baghdad, and in the distance were a column of Abrams tanks. I think your right Osem, his probably telling Gordon that the British people still love him.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Can't remember his real name, but I think many remember the Iraqi Information Minister

Quick MSPaint jobbie. Tried to find a bigger original picture, but that one was all I found via a quick Google at lunchtime.

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As for the nomination...

To be fair to Hillary (), she hasn't officially lost yet, & while Obama has declared himself the Democratic Party's candidate, there can be no official candidate until the Convention in August (unless Hillary does finally concede before then).

She does have a chance still - albeit a very slim one. Although Obama has a majority of pledged delegates & superdelegates, & has passed the threshold needed to win, he is only over the threshold because of the superdelegates... Any choices the superdelegates have made are not set in stone until they declare their support for a particular candidate at the Convention. So if for some reason enough of Obama's superdelegates changed their minds by the time of the Convention, Hillary could perhaps win it... (but hopefully not )


There's also simply the fact that by not conceding yet, she actually has some power...e.g. "I'll only concede if you pick me as VP", "I'll only concede if you offer me XYZ" etc. Obama would probably also benefit a lot from her campaign machine joining his...if she let it.

[punky]

True, but Hillary is almost a shell of herself. I don't think she has the strength to continue whether she wants to or not. The pre-election campaign has been so fierce. She's given it her all, but lately its really affected her. During her last appearance, her voice was broken, her face was drawn. Obama doesn't look the slightest bit different. He might as well come off his holidays for all we could tell. His youth has had a big impact on the campaign.

Even if Hillary doesn't concede and I don't think people could see her even making it to the next election as a credible threat to anyone. Now is the start of the election campaign, not the end. If she is to fight on she's still got a long way yet. I think her tiredness will leave impressions on people's minds. McCain is very much rested and will be a formidable opposition.

Originally Posted by punky

True, but Hillary is almost a shell of herself. I don't think she has the strength to continue whether she wants to or not. The pre-election campaign has been so fierce. She's given it her all, but lately its really affected her. During her last appearance, her voice was broken, her face was drawn. Obama doesn't look the slightest bit different. He might as well come off his holidays for all we could tell. His youth has had a big impact on the campaign.

Even if Hillary doesn't concede and I don't think people could see her even making it to the next election as a credible threat to anyone. Now is the start of the election campaign, not the end. If she is to fight on she's still got a long way yet. I think her tiredness will leave impressions on people's minds. McCain is very much rested and will be a formidable opposition.

Clinton did have a harder job than Obama after Super Tuesday, She had bet on winning the nomination then and her campaign ran out of money and steam. She has had to work much harder than Obama and has had to deal with a lot more stress. Especially after she won PA and was trying to find ways to get the nomination.

That said Obama certainly had a advantage, He seems young, fit, energetic, everything that looks good for a presidential candidate. A perfect contrast to McCain who seems old, has health risks, lacks the energy and charisma that Obama shows. Not sure if it’s intentional, but he seems a great candidate for the Democrats because he does appear different and if the ‘change’ thing plays as importantly as polls suggest he may be nearly unstoppable.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out, If McCain’s age becomes an Issue both in terms of electability but also his campaign and if it suffers as a result. He does not want to be looking tired come late October and may well do after 3 months of intense campaigning.

I think Obama will properly win. Race issues aside, I think the polls are a dead heat (although Obama has a 60 vote lead in the electoral college, according to some polls) but as the campaign continues Obama will do better than McCain. Especially if the Clinton camp does rally behind him.

[frogstamper]

The biggest thing most Americans want is change, Obama has played this card to perfection from the start, even McCain who I saw on ABC last night is emphasising change and more change, but his problem is Iraq, his publicly stated that the US should stay for 100 years to get the job done, to a lot of people that is what they are calling in the states Bush 3. On the other hand I don't think Obama will have the troops out in 12 to 18 months of taking office, I believe he will go for the British option of a mass withdrawal to say 20,000 or so in bases outside Baghdad, putting them generally out of harms way. As regards Hilary, I'd like to see her on the ticket, purely because she has garnered a lot of support in the Democratic party and united together they stand a much better chance of taking the White House.

Originally Posted by frogstamper

The biggest thing most Americans want is change, Obama has played this card to perfection from the start, even McCain who I saw on ABC last night is emphasising change and more change, but his problem is Iraq, his publicly stated that the US should stay for 100 years to get the job done, to a lot of people that is what they are calling in the states Bush 3. On the other hand I don't think Obama will have the troops out in 12 to 18 months of taking office, I believe he will go for the British option of a mass withdrawal to say 20,000 or so in bases outside Baghdad, putting them generally out of harms way. As regards Hilary, I'd like to see her on the ticket, purely because she has garnered a lot of support in the Democratic party and united together they stand a much better chance of taking the White House.

I would like to see her on the ticket for the same reasons really. Help unite the democratic party. I went on a Clinton forum today and some of the comments about Obama while vile, horrible comments that you would not expect from people who claim to be Democratic voters

[frogstamper]

Originally Posted by Damien

I would like to see her on the ticket for the same reasons really. Help unite the democratic party. I went on a Clinton forum today and some of the comments about Obama while vile, horrible comments that you would not expect from people who claim to be Democratic voters

I know what you mean, its been such a bitter battle, as you say some of the comments from "Democratic" voters concerning Obama are truly appalling, I also read some on the HCF, at present the Republicans must be rubbing their hands with glee. Hopefully all Democrats will see things a bit more clearly in a week or so.

[Vlad_Dracul]

I think it is obscene that this mans race is being taken into account when talking about whether he is a suitable candidate. We see it in the UK and US media as if its ok to say,well hes black,can we trust him or can he do a good job.

I listened to his lengthy speech on 5 live the other day. All he blathered on about for ages was how close the US is to Israel and how the US would defend Israeli interests to the hilt. What is this big thing about the US and Israel anyway? Is it the same mindset which allowed many Amaericans and politicians to support IRA "freedom fighters"?