Look at this list of corporate shills

[leftofthedial]

Romney
McCain
Huckabee
Obama
Clinton


and tell me this country isn't doomed.

Another 8 years (at least) of unfettered corporate rule is more than we or the planet can take.

[avaistheone1]

1. Oy Vey!

I know! I know!

[cali]

2. sigh. Obama's fundraising is an extension of dean's

It's largely grassroots. 170,000 new donors in January giving an average of $188.00. The percentage of corporate money he's taken in is no greater than JE's. He does not have a history of being a corporate shill. But feel free to make shit up. At least Obama did more than talk the talk. He actually sacrificed a lucrative career to work for years for the poor and disenfranchised.

[leftofthedial]

4. he did pretty well for himself "helping the poor"

His donor list is far less corporate than Clinton's; his stated policies (to the extent they have been articulated in any detail) are not. At least he can potentially unite people oratorically. Maybe that's all we can hope for.

[cali]

6. His policies have been articulated. His record is unquestionably

the most progressive. Read what George Lakoff has to say about why Obama is a Progressive and one who has the potential to lead the country in a new progressive direction. It's not an endorsement. Just analysis.

[leftofthedial]

9. if by "most progressive" you mean "slightly less republican than Clinton's"

then, cali and leftofthedial have agreed for the second time. :toast:

I have heard some impressive and vaguely progressive rhetoric, but haven't seen anything in his actual positions that I would characterize as progressive. In fact, he seems committed to continuing the politics of compromise. It is impossible for compromise with fascists to yield a progressive result.

[mathewsleep]

12. read this

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/01/31/study-obama-most-liberal-senator-last-year/">here

and shut your mouth.

[leftofthedial]

14. Bill Schneider's definition of "liberal" has little correspondence either to mine

or to anything recognizable as reality

zip your fly

[mathewsleep]

16. ohh shit!

*zip* i'm so embarrassed.

[leftofthedial]

17. LOL

Obama is the best we have left

and, as I said above, he is fine, inspirational orator

he's been hypocritical in many ways in his campaign and I honestly do not find his positions to be compelling

but it doesn't make him progressive.

[avaistheone1]

5. Obama's image different from reality

Even as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has promoted a large following of small-dollar contributors representing ordinary Americans, his campaign has built an old-school political fundraising machine that relies heavily on the wealthy and the powerful, including a Chicago-based hedge fund manager who earned $1.4 billion last year.

The network of fundraisers generating money for the Illinois senator's campaign includes a heavy representation of attorneys at well-connected law firms and members of the financial industry, including highly paid managers of hedge funds and private equity funds whose lofty compensations have recently generated public controversy.
* * * * *
Despite the media attention the campaign has grabbed by attracting 258,000 donors -- in many cases people of modest means who have given over the Internet -- a much smaller group of large donors provides most of the funds for the campaign. And those large donors are best tapped through fundraisers who can call on networks of acquaintances and business associates who can easily write big checks.

The bundlers are crucial to raising money for a presidential primary campaign because federal law limits individuals to contributions of no more than $2,300 per candidate.
Sixty percent of the Obama campaign's funds come from people who have given at least $1,000 -- the kind of donors who are most often recruited by bundlers. Less than 30 percent of his contributions came from people who gave less than $200.

http://wizbangpolitics.com/2007/07/26/not-all-obamas-donors-are-small.php

[cali]

8. Again. The percentage of corporate money he's raised is no

greater than that JE raised. He hasn't take lobbyist money, and unlike JE, for example, a full one third of his funding dosen't come from one special interest group. And yes, trial lawyers are a special interest group and not all of them are starry eyed altruists- by any means.

Furthermore, Obama really has done the hard gritty work when it comes to advancing the interests of the poor and disenfranchised.

[leftofthedial]

10. This isn't an Edwards "obituary" post

Just an observation on the remaining contenders.

Having founded and then run a nonprofit working with primarily disadvantaged families for the last 5 years, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that many who work with the poor also are not "starry eyed altruists." Especially when someone ends up wealthy enough to join the Senate club, one wonders . . .

[kelligesq]

13. sorry, your post is factually incorrect about Edwards taking lobbyist/corporate money

[Maven]

7. Obama has used PACs and lobbyists to generate donations

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Barack_Obama/Campaign_Financing

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/08/09/pacs_and_lobbyists_aided_obamas_rise/

I guess comparing the "percentages" is now the new Obamaworld tactic for equating his campaign to Edwards', but the actual dollars and cents tell another story:

http://opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00009638&cycle=2008

http://opensecrets.org/pres08/index.asp?cycle=2008

[inthebrain]

15. Big Pharma and Insurance companies are grass roots?

Clinton and Obama are leading the pack in donations from those two.

GrassRoots is a word that had completely lost it's original meaning.

[katty]

3. i think this will continue more than another 8 years - historically

the polarizing force of crystallization and power foments revolutions-and they're never pretty--putting off the inevitable.

[leftofthedial]

11. the proles are sedated into submission