Monday, November 22, 2004
Obama on Imus
I heard about ten minutes of Barack Obama's interview on Imus this morning during my blissfully short commute. He is one very impressive guy -- indeed, I turned on Imus in the middle of the segment and was listening to Obama and thinking "smart guy" even before I understood who he was.
In any case, I picked up a couple of things from the interview. First, Sen-elect Obama came out strongly for charter schools, which is a huge issue for me and a thumb in the eye of the teachers unions. True, he did not support vouchers, but for a Democrat that is a third rail -- the equivalent of coming out in favor of partial-birth abortions for a Republican.
Second, Obama made a lot of thoughtful observations about progress in race relations in this country, and particularly said that he thought that "those who say there has been no progress" are not being helpful, because they destroy the hope that race relations can improve.
Third, he was funny when he might have been sanctimonious, which is a wonderful trait in a politician. Imus asked Obama about the racial questions swirling around the Monday Night Football kerfuffle, and whether the reaction of the public would have been the same had Halle Berry dropped her towel rather than Nicollette Sheriden. Going from memory here: Obama said the reaction would be different, but only because nobody could possibly object to seeing Halle Berry in a towel.
This guy is going places.
In any case, I picked up a couple of things from the interview. First, Sen-elect Obama came out strongly for charter schools, which is a huge issue for me and a thumb in the eye of the teachers unions. True, he did not support vouchers, but for a Democrat that is a third rail -- the equivalent of coming out in favor of partial-birth abortions for a Republican.
Second, Obama made a lot of thoughtful observations about progress in race relations in this country, and particularly said that he thought that "those who say there has been no progress" are not being helpful, because they destroy the hope that race relations can improve.
Third, he was funny when he might have been sanctimonious, which is a wonderful trait in a politician. Imus asked Obama about the racial questions swirling around the Monday Night Football kerfuffle, and whether the reaction of the public would have been the same had Halle Berry dropped her towel rather than Nicollette Sheriden. Going from memory here: Obama said the reaction would be different, but only because nobody could possibly object to seeing Halle Berry in a towel.
This guy is going places.
1 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Nov 22, 11:55:00 AM:
Jack,
I live in Chicago and have seen and heard Obama speak a great deal. You are correct, this guy is going places. Even if we had a viable Republican in place for the recent elections the results would not have changed much. I didn't vote for Obama only because his stance on the Iraq but I couldn't stomach voting for Keyes either. As far as I can tell the only problem Obama may have in the future is his ties to Jesse Jackson.
On another note how bout them Big Ten (co)Champion Hawkeyes. What a great end to the season.
Scott @ Point Of View
