Obama launches presidential bid

We failed to mention Obama's presidential bid earlier today because, well, it wasn't really news. We all knew it was coming. Though it probably wouldn't be a bad thing to give you all a chance to discuss it.

We've always liked Obama here at AMERICAblog. (Sure, he bought blogads on other blogs and not ours, but we're not bitter.) Well, at least I do (and I don't think Joe has any great issues with him). I'm from Illinois, and I like Obama, at least from what I've seen. He speaks well, seems down-to-earth, earnest, sincere. All good things. And, what do you know, he has a brain, which would be a nice thing to have in the Oval Office.

Can Obama win the presidency? Sure, some day. Will he win this time? I'm not sure, but it's obviously far too early to tell - hell, I never thought Kerry had a chance in hell of becoming the Democratic candidate, and well... Though I wonder if the electorate might find Obama too green to win this time. After 8 years of Bush, the voters could very likely desire brains and experience. Then again, whether he wins or not, a presidential run is still a good chance for Obama to get his name out there - and he certainly is doing that - and set himself up as a prime talking head and a possible run in the future. No one says you have to win the first time.

One bit of advice for the Obama crowd. Teach your boss to use the word "I." Obama was on CNN last week, talking about Bush's Iraq escalation plan, and he kept talking about (and I paraphrase) how "our office was considering that" or how "my staff is looking at that" or how "we are certainly thinking about that." It's no your office, it's not your staff, and it's not we. It's you. It's I. Obama is far too new at this to be adopting Senator-speak so quickly. He has a fresh face and a fresh voice. And some adviser(s) are already ruining the guy's speech (and worse yet, thought?) patterns.

Obama is a masterful speaker, and seems to have a brain to match. Hopefully, whoever he's getting his advice from, won't turn Obama into the same overly-cautious we-man that we've seen far too many times before.