Gaigen / August 29, 2008 10:41 AM

A little better than I expected. I was worried that he wouldn't get as specific as he needed to be or as tough as he needed to be and he came through a little. But, man, did he make a lot of big promises. Heavy tax cuts? No oil dependency in 10 years (assuming his election and re-election)? Health care for all? Whoa, 'Bama baby, slow down. Same something for next time...

Who needs oil anyway? / August 29, 2008 11:21 AM

He offered up an awful lot. In fact, I kept waiting for him to say, "Read my lips, no new taxes!" YIKES! What I really want to know is how he plans to increase teacher salaries. Well Big B, we're waiting.

zoenotcool / August 29, 2008 2:35 PM

Amazing, but full of huge promises. He wasn't afraid to be confrontational or angry. I want to believe, I want to drink the kool-aid...but I don't trust anyone much anymore.

shechemist / August 29, 2008 2:41 PM

I was glad to hear him swing hard at McCain. No one likes seeing an old man get smacked around but it needs to be done.

Dubi Kaufmann / August 29, 2008 3:26 PM

The clean coal and nuclear power endorsement came out of left field.
A good surprise, I thought he was all talk.

Pedro / August 29, 2008 4:43 PM

I was not enthused. Sorry. I can't really believe a word the guy says after he endorsed Todd Stroger.

He really came out with the same points that democrats have been bringing to the table for years.

I'd be more impressed if he didn't use his background as a crutch. Ok, Obama, we get it. You are black/white. We don't care. We care about what you would like to do if you were to be elected.

From what I heard, his plans have very little chance of being implemented, which is essentially having no plans.

David / August 29, 2008 4:57 PM

You can't trust the guy because he endorsed Todd Stroger? That's now overtaken "Hillary had to put up with sexism" as the most retarded reason in the world to not vote for Obama.

EVERYBODY is more cynical now than they were eight years ago, and for good reason. But to lose your capacity to hope for a better world, that's just sad.

I thought Obama's speech was specific, rousing, and perfectly capped off a week where the country got to see what strong, committed Democrats look like.

And I for one will vote for Obama, not because he's "not a Republican," not because he's black, not even because he's our Senator. I'm going to vote for him because I agree with his policies and I believe he can bring us to a better place.

Gaigen / August 29, 2008 5:14 PM

I'd be more impressed if he didn't use his background as a crutch. Ok, Obama, we get it. You are black/white.

I feel the same way about McCain. "OK, I get it. You were a POW in Vietnam." Seriously, not to be disrespectful, but ...

Pedro / August 30, 2008 5:25 PM

For a guy whose entire campaign has focused on his ability to change the status quo in Washington and deliver relief to the "working man" (isn't that pretty much everybody?) he gave full endorsement to the most corrupt political system in the country which then turned around and enacted a sales tax hike that hurts the poor more than any other group.

Yeah, that is a retarded reason not to trust him.

C-Note / August 30, 2008 7:44 PM

Pedro, there are certain divisions between state and federal politics that, well, to make a long story short, make it so that certain politicians in one area can't do sh*t about what politicians in the other area do. When this is the case, and one of these politicians is running for President, sometimes it's smarter to go along to get along. Because there isn't sh*t Obama can do about high-level Cook County politics right now. It doesn't mean he loves Stroger. You're going to have to get used to the idea that sometimes politicians have to endorse ideas they don't support in order to get the things they actually do support. Especially when they were placed in their positions by the politicians you want them to denounce. You have to grow up a little bit to understand how this works. Can't be a hard-liner all the time.

Pedro / August 31, 2008 1:40 PM

You can justify it anyway you want, but it doesn't alter the fact of the matter. You said it yourself - that Obama was put in place by the Chicago democrat machine. Who do you think will be pulling his strings?

I am a born and raised Chicagoan, so I know how this city works. If Obama is elected, you can forget about all of the work Fitzgerald has been doing on corruption, because he will be gone. Obama will replace him with a handpicked do nothing.

That is totally change we can believe in