Posted on 09/17/2006 5:41:55 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
INDIANOLA, Iowa - Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., warned Democratic activists Sunday that the party must take a tougher stance on national security if it wants to succeed in the November elections.
"What Democrats have to do is to close the deal," said Obama, the keynote speaker at Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (news, bio, voting record)'s 29th annual steak fry. "We have got to show we have a serious agenda for change."
Obama's appearance in Iowa, where precinct caucuses launch the presidential season, has raised a number of eyebrows about his intentions for a presidential run in 2008. Though only a first-term senator, Obama has burst onto the national scene.
But he wouldn't say Sunday whether he was considering a run at the White House.
"My only attentions right now are focused on '06," said Obama. "Whoever is looking toward 2008 without focusing on 2006 makes a mistake."
Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner also spent Sunday afternoon at the steak fry, and left little doubt that he is looking ahead to 2008.
"You know and I know that it all starts in Iowa," Warner told the audience. "Do your part. We're going to take back the Congress this year and then we're going to take back our nation."
Warner accused President Bush of using the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to inject the issue of terrorism into the 2006 race. Warner said the strategy is proof that the GOP is nervous and trying to scare voters.
"I think Americans feel President Bush missed an opportunity on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 to bring our country together, to call us to some level of common cause and shared sacrifice," Warner told The Associated Press.
Obama said he and other Democrats want to take the nation in a different direction, but he vowed not to "demonize" Republicans. He said a carefully cast message could lure moderate Republicans who are uncomfortable with the White House's hard-line conservative stance.
"The American people are ready for change," he said. "The American people recognize the path (of) the last five years has not made us more competitive, has not opened more opportunities and has not made us safer."
Obama called the attention he has received "flattering," recalling how he was treated like a hero when he traveled to Kenya this summer to visit his father's home village. He also noted that rumors of his presidential ambitions began the day after he was elected to the Senate in 2004, when someone asked him about his plans for 2008.
"I said you'll have to wait a little while," he said.
In his speech to more than 2,000 activists gathered in a county park, Obama also warned that many voters are losing hope that the government is on their side.
"Even those of us in public life get a certain cynicism," he said. "We've got a lot of self-important leaders who are long on rhetoric and short on ideas.
"People still believe that in America the promise is limitless, but they aren't sure their leaders do."
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, center, makes his way through the crowd with Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, left, before speaking to local Democrats at Harkin's annual fundraising steak fry dinner, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2006, in Indianola, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
The first thing they need to do is get rid of whackos with room-temperature IQs and fake African names.
Truth be told neither one of them is fit to be in the Senate.
L
No you dont, you need tough security action.
The Democrats in a nutshell, all about appearance, never action.
Well Obama, all you've gotta do is repudiate your current stance, and adopt Bush's.
The DemonRATs will continue to vigorously campaign against and vote against every security issue raised by the Bush administration.
They can't help themselves.
Nobody will be able to take them seriously on national defense.
If they win at all, it will only be for some other reason.
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He means they only need to take a tough stance until after the election. I'm not stupid enough to believe they actually want a tough stance on national security for real.
If you suddenly need to pretend to be tough on national security just because there's an election coming up, how serious can you really be about it in the first place?
Evidently, Mike Glover wants to have Obamas baby.
Talk about a written BJ!
It says a lot about the Democrat Party that it has to rely on a freshman senator for leadership.
"We've got a lot of self-important leaders who are long on rhetoric and short on ideas," Barack Obama confessed.
Don't you love it when politicians talk honestly about themselves.
Lieberman is ample evidence that Rs have nothing to fear on this front.
And Rosie O'Donnell needs to think before she speaks. It ain't gonna happen.
It's a little hard to get a "tough security stance" when you are counting on the votes of Islamofascists and illegal aliens to get yourself elected.
Amen. and Amen again!
AP giving huge props to a freshman senator. I know I am just obsessing, but if a watchdog group asked AP to show it doesn't play favorites broadly in these election pieces, what could it say?
I just ordered two bumper stickers (for my 2 vehicles) which say: Democrats are wimps in the War on Terror: VOTE REPUBLICAN.
Considering that I already get harassed from lib-weenie motorists who hate my "RE-ELECT Sen. RICK SANTORUM" bumper stickers, I can imaging all the grief I will get when I slap these new stickers on.
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