Black Conservative: Obama Unqualified for Serious '08 Presidential Bid
by Jim Brown
October 24, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A spokesman for a national network of black conservatives is casting doubt on whether the news that U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is weighing a 2008 presidential run is anything for Republicans to be concerned about. Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, the Illinois Democrat said he is considering an '08 White House run, but will not make up his mind until after the mid-term elections.
Obama, a professing Christian, said in a "Call to Renewal" speech in June that it is time for progressives to "join a serious debate about how to reconcile faith with our modern, pluralistic democracy." However, according to David Almasi of the black conservative leadership network, Project 21, Obama's liberal stances on issues such as abortion and homosexuality are unlikely to resonate with values voters.
Obama's media darling status and popularity with many liberals demonstrate "the same kind of things that a candidacy by Rudy Giuliani would prove," Almasi suggests; "that, yes, you can get a lot of people in your party excited about you; but when it comes right down to it, who are the ones that are going to go out and work?"
Who indeed, the Project 21 spokesman asks, are the people "that are going to go out and do the get-out-the-vote things? I think that's, in Rudy Giuliani's case, a big hurdle he's going to have to face." And when it comes to Barack Obama, Almasi contends, that is why the Democratic presidential hopeful probably "would not be able to cross party lines and get people from the other side to potentially vote for him."
Actually, Obama has yet to prove himself in Washington, as far as Almasi is concerned. He says upon hearing the news that the Democrat was considering a presidential run, "the first thing that came to my mind is, what is this guy going to run on? Obama has only been in the Senate for two years," the Project 21 member notes.
The junior senator from Illinois was "previously a state assemblyman, and he has not really had a distinguished legislative career here in Washington," Almasi points out. So, he adds, although much has been made of Obama's possible White House run in '08, "it's a lot of sizzle and no steak, in my opinion."
In his June "Call to Renewal" speech, Obama criticized biblical inerrantists and urged liberals not to be hesitant to use their religious beliefs to effect social change. The confident and outspoken rookie Senate member has often been described as a "rock star" of the Democratic Party's 2006 fundraising tour and, according to some analysts, is one of the most articulate Democrats on the political scene in the past two years.
Currently, the senator is traveling the U.S., campaigning for Democrats and promoting his new book, The Audacity of Hope. But no matter how audacious the hopes of the Democratic politician, author and possible presidential hopeful may be, Almasi doubts Obama has the experience to effect a serious bid for higher office.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
