I strongly suspect that, at the beginning of the campaign, Obama, et al, did not think he would be the nominee. This was going to be a “test the waters”, get some campaigning experience, get national exposure, and either be the VP nominee or go back to the Senate, with a “real” run in the future.

It’s embarrassing that Obama is a Senator, let alone the likely donkey candidate for POTUS.

By October? Obama is a national joke, both as a presidential wannabe and as a US Senator. He is so far over his head that only the most deluded are buying his policy ideas as workable and good for our country.

onlineanalyst on July 15, 2008 at 6:10 PM

This highlights one of the perpetual dangers facing any Democrat nominee: taking the liberal media analysis of the campaign seriously. Obama has spent the last year being assured by the MSM and the nutroots that (a) everyone hates the war in Iraq and wishes we had never gone there, (b) has forgotten about 9/11 and thinks the War on Terror is a joke, (c) hates Bush at the subatomic level, and can’t wait to vote for the first empty suit with a donkey pin that comes along, and (d) yearns to forget all about foreign policy and get back to expanding the entitlement gravy train.

Obama seriously didn’t think he needed to seriously think about any of this foreign policy and military stuff – he thought he just needed to push Hillary out of the sedan chair, then climb in and ride it to the coronation. Obama himself, and a lot of his top advisors, are sincerely shocked that their poll numbers are collapsing, and people are still more interested in talking about his galaxy of nutjob friends than his juicy social program giveaways. They come by that deer-in-the-headlights expression honestly.

The more Obama pontificates, the more I see a self-regarding, stuck in adolescence egotist. He is a man-child trying to play adult without the character of judgment to pull off his efforts.

He has not had the courage to convene with General Petraeus. He has not convened his subcommittees. Awarding Obama with the mantle of the party must be giving the Dems buyers’ remorse. He caught their fancy (and the media’s–but they’re dazzled with appearances, not reality) through high-flown rhetoric at the 2004 DNC convention, but they never looked beyond the facade.

Obama’s thin resume, his coddled rise to power starting back in Illinois, his inability to commit through votes on substantive issues, and his lack of credentials as a responsible executive all indicate the junior senator’s unfitness for the presidency.

Dale in Atlanta on July 15, 2008 at 3:30 PM
This is the second time I’ve seen this. I get the PBUH, but what about the other two.

No good with acronyms today… PigDog

Swinehound on July 15, 2008 at 3:41 PM

Swinehound: Obama, AND his “followers” clearly think he is a “Messiah” of some sort; even a “whitelighter”.

He is clearly not a “Chritian” Messiah, if anything he is a Marxist-Muslim who practices “Taqiyah” very effectively!

Since he thus a Muslim “Messiah”, or “Prophet”, I want to give him his due.

In Islam, when you say the name of any “Prophet”, you also have to send “salawat” or “salutations” when you say their name, according to the Quran.

Thus, when Muslims say “Mohammad”, the say “peace be upon him” (PBUH) but that is the English, but the Arabic letters for that are “SAW)

Another phrase used is: May Allah (SWT) bless him and grant him peace.”

So, you have (PBUH) in English, and the two phrases in Arabic which are abbreviated: (SWT) & (SAW)

Hence, as the good Marxist-Muslim that Barack HUSSEIN Obama is; I want to give him his due.

So from now on, when I mention his name in writing, I will include: Barack HUSSEIN Obama (PBUH)(SAW)(SWT)

Besides, if we can convince EVERY writer in the Blogosphere, so inclined, to do so, we can irritate the living crap out of his campaign, n’est pas??

That being said, he is flexible enough in his thinking to understand that once engaged, retreat for retreat’s sake isn’t the solution. Good on him for voicing that opposition unlike the sheep of the right that have yet to be critical of McCain as he openly advocates for amnesty, Kyoto ratification, excessive corportate taxation, and all the other ways that the candidate fails to live up to the party values.

I keep wondering if we’re going to be hearing from one (or more) of Obama’s disillusioned supporters about how the Obama campaign was planting those “fainters” in his audiences, in order to hype up the media coverage of his rallies.

AZCoyote on July 15, 2008 at 3:25 PM

That would be hilarious. Barack Obama as Elmer Gantry! (Hmmm, it’s already not so far off the mark, even without accusations of planted fainters.)

The Democrats in the last few years are beginning to remind me of the ultra-leftists I knew back in college, who wanted to create all kinds of horrors for the American people so their “revolution” could occur and they could seize power.

Gilda on July 15, 2008 at 3:11 PM

Well, basically, the left-wing nutballs I went to college with (circa 1970) have seized power.

Barack HUSSEIN Obama (PBUH)(SWT)(SAW)

Dale in Atlanta on July 15, 2008 at 3:30 PM

This is the second time I’ve seen this. I get the PBUH, but what about the other two.

No good with acronyms today… PigDog

“To say you’re going to get out on a certain schedule — regardless of what the Iraqis do, regardless of what our enemies do, regardless of what is happening on the ground — is the height of absurdity,” said O’Hanlon, who described himself as “livid.”

To try to nation build Islamic countries, and with really no real end in sight, is the height of absurdity. If O’Hanlon is so livid let him get his a$$ over there.

U.S. forces should not ordinarily be engaged in
nation-building — sorry, nation-stabilizing — nor should
they ever be engaged in Sharia-nation-stabilizing, which
is my core problem with our overall strategy in
constitutionally Sharia-supreme Iraq as well as
constitutionally Sharia-supreme Afghanistan (not to mention
the constitutionally Sharia-supreme Palestinian Authority),
but that’s another column.

Bottom line? History shows that the conditions that drove
the model transformation of Japan do not exist today with
regard to the Islamic Middle East. We’re going to need
another strategy — for starters, an immigration policy and
new laws to halt the creep of Sharia — to ward off the
Islamization of the West.
- Diana West

*

A rather large topic. Would it cover, perhaps, such grand themes as the multicultural Big Lie that insists Western ways may be grafted — presto! — onto Islamic cultures? Or maybe the difficulties inherent in the Western-style, humane projection of power against seventh-century terrorist barbarians? No.

Diana West

Two hustler driven runaway gravy trains headed for a collision.

You know, ultra-leftists from college days DO grow old, and become what?

Apparently they become tenured professors and would-be king makers, if Ayers and Dohrn are any example.

Obama was swept to primary victory on a wave of vague high-level thematic theatrics. Now that specifics are in order his emptiness and incompetence are beginning to show.

Gilda on July 15, 2008 at 2:52 PM

I keep wondering if we’re going to be hearing from one (or more) of Obama’s disillusioned supporters about how the Obama campaign was planting those “fainters” in his audiences, in order to hype up the media coverage of his rallies.

Sir Napsalot on July 15, 2008 at 3:16 PM

You’re right, it’s certainly many of the same people.

In fact, he apparently now wants to invade Pakistan and is making it known to the world. That should set well with those European countries he wants to impress.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4339451.ece

a capella on July 15, 2008 at 3:00 PM

It’s all talk. As soon as he and the rest of the Left can figure out a way to abandon Afghanistan, they will.

O’Hanlon might be livid about Obama’s rush to judgment without knowing the facts, but do facts matter to Obama’s supporters, or are they still fainting at his oratory?

Obama has attained a strong odor of arrogance in this campaign, which even his putative allies have noticed. He seems to believe himself to know all without any need to study issues or research facts — which may be part of why he finds himself hitting reverse so often in this campaign.

This is a very telling observation on Sen. Obama’s campaign and his thought process. It’s very alarming that he has a good chance to become president.

Are you sure they haven’t tried all these past years?
You know, ultra-leftists from college days DO grow old, and become what?

Modern ultra-leftists.

The Dems want us to lose both wars. They want the economy to tank. It’s their revenge against Bush for the 2000 election.

They’d see this country go under to have their petty little revenge.

baldilocks on July 15, 2008 at 3:02 PM

I wish this wasn’t true but it is. The Democrats in the last few years are beginning to remind me of the ultra-leftists I knew back in college, who wanted to create all kinds of horrors for the American people so their “revolution” could occur and they could seize power.

baldilocks on July 15, 2008 at 3:04 PM

Word.