2008 Prez race.

Obama would be the first Black President; Clinton would be the first Woman President (not counting Edith Bolling Galt Wilson); Romney would be the first Mormon President. I'm looking forward to the first Native American President, and/or the first Muslim President. : NPR pointed out there's also a Hispanic and a Senior Citizen at the front of the pack, at least for the time being. I think Bill Richardson (Dem - NM - Gov) must be the Hispanic (though his name doesn't sound any more Hispanic than Jimmy Smits, does it?), and John McCain (Rep - AZ - Sen) is the Senior. There are three Hispanic Senators, all with Hispanic names; one from Colorado, one from Florida, and one from New Jersey. Two are Democrats and one is Republican. AFAIK none are running for President, though one of them may be nominated for VP. Is Bill Ritter, Gov of CO, a Native-American? Some articles about him are a little confusing, and could be read to mean that.

Looks like the Republican side has a few more options, rather than 3 people with ~1/3 each. But that doesn't mean that a close Democratic race won't be interesting. It's going to be a very interesting race.

It's going to be a very interesting race. It's already pretty damn interesting to me.

I hope that Edwards wins the Democratic nomination.... I don't trust Clinton or Obama...and none of the Repubs appeal to me at all. :?

I hope that Edwards wins the Democratic nomination.... I don't trust Clinton or Obama...and none of the Repubs appeal to me at all. :? Do you have any specific reasons for distrusting Obama or Clinton? Or, any particular reason why you do trust Edwards?

It's going to be a very interesting race.It's already pretty damn interesting to me.I edited my previous post to include some more reasons it's interesting. Still, I'd like an Arab-American candidate, or a Native-American candidate, or a follower of some religion other than Christianity (Islam might be best at the moment), or even an Eastern-Orthodox candidate.

Barack Obama was raised Muslim, does that qualify for non-Christian?

Barack Obama was raised Muslim, does that qualify for non-Christian?I believe I've heard that he was educated in a Muslim school, not that he was raised Muslim. Do any of us know for certain what the correct statement is? I'd like to see a URL to something reliable and "nuanced" (as the term is used these days). "Urban Legends" say it was his father who was raised as a Muslim (though he was an atheist by the time the Senator was born). "Hotline" says the statement that the Senator attended a madrasat (sp?) is "a libel". (I don't see why it would be a libel, even if it's a lie.)(* see edit) Other sites say the Senator is a Christian. *: To be a libel it has to be damaging by intent, as well as false by intent. I don't see what's damaging about having been educated in a madrassa.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_barack_obama_muslim.htm That's something that caught my eye, though I can't really be bothered to give it too much thought... Some people will go to great lengths to discredit someone.

Well its not that I "distrust" Obama, I simply do not feel as if he has enough experience to be president. As for Hillary, I don't trust her. I know that there has been a lot freaky things happen to people close to the Clintons in the past - and although I realize that people on the right have villified them for decades and that a lot of it is probably exaggerated, even if 5% of it is true its pretty serious. Anyway she really is more of an establishment candidate - she supports for example free trade and NAFTA to the hilt, which undermines much of Democratic party base. In my opinion she is really little more than a republican with feminist tendancies at heart. (Despite what they say about "HillaryCare"). lol

Well its not that I "distrust" Obama, I simply do not feel as if he has enough experience to be president. Well, not many people have been able to quantify their opinion of what it takes to be a president, or what experience is valid and useful or what isn't... Can you enumerate the points which you think make an experienced and ready president?

Actually one pandit on NPR today pointed out we know more about Obama than any other candidate; he's written and published two books of his own words.

Can you enumerate the points which you think make an experienced and ready president? Well for me it's about 5 parts ideology, 3 parts experience, 1 part general demeanor (is the person potentially crazy, will they start a nuclear war? Do they have lots of missing/dead colleagues/business associates?) and 1 part general intuition. Actually I've looked into Obama more after reading this thread, and I have realized that he is more experienced than I thought....

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_barack_obama_muslim.htm I hadn't realized the "accusation" included that the madrassa in question was Wahhabist. Yes, I would think Wahhabism was a problem. For that matter, I would doubt the well-roundedness of an education that came exclusively from a madrassa (which strictly speaking usually only teach the Quran); but in fact the Indonesian school he attended was a "general school", and the Islam to which he was exposed was not a "radical" kind. One of the junk emails describes his father as a "Black Muslim". This is probably deliberately confusing; the man was a Muslim, and was Black, but he was never part of the weird group out of Detroit who appropriated the name "Black Muslim" for themselves. Actually I've looked into Obama more after reading this thread, and I have realized that he is more experienced than I thought....To take Hilary Clinton as one example for comparison; her experience in government doesn't include as much accomplishment nor as much record (on which basis we could predict her future actions) as Obama's. Of her experience in the White House, it's not really clear she was in charge, and the only thing we know she tried to do (health-care reform) was more a failure than a success precisely because she tried too hard to "be in charge" instead of just giving Congress the broad outlines and letting them work out the details. So a case could be made that Obama's relevant experience is longer than Sen. Clinton's. (Or not, I guess.)

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