Obama May Be In...
This entry was posted on 10/22/2006 9:53 AM and is filed under 2008 Election,All Posts,Good News,Announcements.
Meet The Press got it just now:
Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged Sunday he was considering a run for president in 2008, backing off previous statements that he would not do so.
The Illinois Democrat said he could no longer stand by the statements he made after his 2004 election and earlier this year that he would serve a full six-year term in Congress. He said he would not make a decision until after the Nov. 7 elections.
"That was how I was thinking at that time," said Obama, when asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" about his previous statements.
"Given the response I've been getting the last several months, I have thought about the possibility" although not with any seriousness or depth, he said. "My focus is on '06. ... After November 7, I'll sit down and consider it."
This is big. It's not exactly yes. But it's no longer no, and it's more than maybe. It's as close as he can get to yes before he makes a big speech, and files his candidacy. He's obviously gotten a tremendous reception the last few months, with the book tour, and the crowds, and the sheer impact his obvious talent and charisma have had on people. His advisers are telling him this could be the moment. It could be his RFK moment.
I like this statement:
"I'm not sure anyone is ready to be president before they're president," Obama said.
That's the kind of intelligent candor we've come to expect from the man. Smart politics, too, from a junior senator.
Can you imagine the nomination battle between Barack and Hillary? On the one side, the soul of the party, of both its grass roots and its centrist reaches, a minority, and yet the least polarizing of the Democrats. On the other, the centrist money candidate, loved by neither left nor right, the most polarizing of the Democrats. Idealism vs. the juggernaut of power and cash. What we want, vs. what we're made to take. 
