Barack Obama Enters Presidential Race

The Associated Press has announced that Barack Obama has officially stated that he will enter the next presidential race. The freshman Illinois sentator stated "Our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, commonsense way."

"Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that's what we have to change first."

Unfortunately I cannot vote for him.

George Bush has single handedly destroyed this nation's credibility, stability and up until recently, its economy. It will require huge policy changes to undo the damage he has done and will most likely take several years.

I can't imagine trusting the rebuilding of this country to someone with no experience. He is a fairly new senator. He has no experience running a state let alone a country. The fact that many democrats are so quick to anoint him as the next democratic candidate really scares me. Did they not learn from the John Kerry fiasco?

In this past presidential election there was a huge push for John Kerry. It's almost as if he was the best Democrat's had to offer at the time and there really wasn't another viable choice. He of course, was a horrible candidate. His voting record was inconsistent at best, and often times his opinion would waver when mass opinion changed. That election also marked a change for me as well. It was the first time I ever voted for a party rather than a candidate. After four years of what historians will consider one of the worst presidencies in the history of the United States, I could not in good conscience vote for Bush; even though the Democratic candidate was, by my estimations, not qualified.

Have you ever heard the saying "A man is only as good as his word"? That unfortunately does not apply to politicians. Mr. Obama is a great soundbyte. He speaks to the people as he is one of them in the way that a civil rights leader would. He says all the right things at all the right times. He has admitted in one of his books that he had taken drugs when he was younger. He also has the backing of the most powerful entity on earth...Oprah. He is being built up to be the perfect candidate. But you know what? We don't know him. We know what he says he stands for, but we don't know what he stands for. We know how he would change the country, but we don't know if he would change the country. That can be said of any policitian, however at least with them we usually have lengthy voter records to go by. We don't have anything with him.

He seems like a decent person but these days that is just not enough. Clinton had his faults, but he could never be called stupid. He also made some wrong decisions but I never felt he wasn't in control of the country. My fear is that with Barack, while he might try to improve the country, could possibly be overwhelmed by all the things required to run it.

There is a reason why athletes play college sports, and then move up to the big leagues. It takes time to mature and to hone their craft. Barack hasn't had that. He's trying to become the most powerful person in the world with what amounts to a stint in little league.

Barack's ascendency has reminded me of an election we had here in California not too long ago; that of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He won not because of his beliefs and convictions, but simply due to his name. He was one of the biggest movie stars in the world and had the charisma to go with it. I commonly read such idiocies as ' I want the Terminator as my governor' or 'my governor can beat up your governor' during his first election run. All I could think of was I couldn't believe people could be such sheep. Trusting someone with no experience to run a state who's economy is bigger than many other countries' economies is idiocy. All I can say is it shocked me to see him get elected and it saddened me to see him get reelected.

As divisive as this may be I would have to say that Hilary Clinton would probably be the best choice for our next President. She's intelligent, quite astute, and knows the job after having spent 8 years in the White House. She would probably employ many of the same people on Bill's staff, which is a huge upgrade over anyone Bush has employed. (With the possible exception of Colin Powell.) She would also have the advice of Bill Clinton behind her which I think would be invaluable during this time of uncertainty in the Middle East.

Is she more of the same? Unfortunately yes. She is a politician any way you look at it. Barack seems as though he would be a breath of fresh air, however we really have to ask ourselves if this is the right time. For those of us that aren't blind, we realize that Bush has created an atmosphere of hate and resentment towards Americans all over the world. What will it take to fix that? Politics unfortunately. And understanding.

My number one choice for president? Al Gore. It's a travesty he didn't win before (due to our continued use of an atiquated system such as the electoral college) and he by far would be the one person I could wholeheartedly support. Judging by his interviews that ship has sailed and he's happier doing what he's doing now.

I would vote for a Clinton-Obama ticket with the hope that after 8 years Obama would have enough experience to run country by then. But for now, I just can't pick a good soundbyte over experience.