Obama and McCain - your thoughts/opinions on the American presidential candidates

[Earlybird]

Is Obama all charisma and no substance? Or is he a breath of fresh air politically speaking - offering hope for real change? Is he politically experienced enough to be president, or is he largely the X-Factor presidential candidate (huge momentum created by media adoration/hype but at some point the bubble will burst revealing a manufactured candidate?)

Is McCain too old, too conservative and/or too dull? All substance and no charisma - so doomed to fail with the media/public due to importance of image/soundbites? Or a man of experience and integrity who will guide the country with a steady and experienced hand?

As a Mumsnet member based in America, am curious to hear how the candidates appear to those who don't get their news through the US media. Am particularly interested atm as Obama is in the midst of his International tour.

mkg - it was michelle obama who referred to Hillary Clinton as making 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling

I could have sworn I hear Hillary say it on Tuesday though. I didn't listen to all of Michelle Obama because she bores me. I tried for about 5 minutes and then I fell asleep.

Oh well, that little comment doesn't really matter now though. The Republicans went and did what the Democrats did have the balls to do.

I heard a rumor that Michelle Obama didn't want Hillary Clinton as VP (she was the most logical choice). I don't think she wanted to Alpha Females in Barracks life.

See this is why I shouldn't watch tv late at night while pregnant. I can't keep anything straight. That's ok I knew I heard someone say it at some point.

im not that up with american politics... but the mccain side (almost every one ive ever heard of/read about) seem to hold some v sketchy views for my liking. i think they are charitably called 'conservative' (reckon bigoted might fit the bill better but hey ho)

so id like anyone on the other side to win.
i think its fantastic that there have been a woman and a black person involved at such high level for first time ever...

but have sad feeling the bigoted lot will get it. again.

Here in France the national right-wing media talk about Obama as if it were a given that he will become president. He appears modern and to represent a new generation in politics - much in the same way that Nicolas Sarkozy appeared modern in the presidential elections here last year.

BloodySmartarse--The reason why the republican will win is because Obama has no way to pay for his grand ideas. We are already in a deficit, where is this money magically coming from?

He wants universal healthcare, that's great, but how is he going to pay for it. By raising taxes? We are already paying outrageous taxes to fund our schools, we can't spend anymore, plus I don't like the idea that my money that I work for is funding someone elses healthcare. It would be simpler to make all businesses provide healthcare for their workers, as of now, it's optional.

It would be one thing if we had socialized medicine and education. But we don't. We are expected to pay our property and school taxes, social security tax, add on a healthcare tax and still figure out how we are going to send our kids to college? Most Americans are already in debt and living pay check to pay check, we can't afford it.

He wants to raise taxes on the highest 5% of incomes. That's great but those people own most of the companies. If they lose money (they are already paying the highest amount in taxes) they will just send more jobs over seas.

The war in Iraq, he wants to bring troops home and end the war. That's great, but we don't want a repeat of Afghanistan in the '80s where we went, changed things, left too early, and it became a breeding ground for crazies.

I love Obama's ideas, but he needs to elaborate on more than his "hope" and "change" when he starts to talk numbers than maybe I can get behind him.

Obama is an extremely gifted speaker. He has an uncanny ability to speak to people's wishes and dreams in wonderful and poetic language. People want to believe the world he outlines is possible. But exactly how he intends to achieve it is anyone's guess.

It is easy to get carried away by his idealism, but we live in the real world and I think if everything he speaks of were possible, a great deal of it would currently be in place.

I wonder if he's little more than beautifully packaged and articulated hot air.

Key difference between Obama and McCain is foreign policy and HOW the world would see America. Obama is VERY diverse and has life experiences (lived abroad for many years, black and white relatives.....) that make him very different. It is intersteing that so many forget that he is half white half back.

McCain is the was the best choice for the Republicans but he has one hell of a temper. Good move to go for woman VP.

Obama is very very well rounded for the job and very very organised. My best guess is that he will just miss out and will never become President. Shame!

PS On the black pastor thing: someone said that most black people have an uncle or someone close who has similiar views. Not surprising if you think of black history in America. But that old perspective will get black people no where and Obama and many others know that. The pastor is an attention seeker.

since McCain announced his running mate I have become convinced he will win, and that is a depressing prospect.
I don't trust him at all I seem to remember he very nearly joined the democrats and now he chooses this woman for VP
guess he just really wants the job

has anyone commented on this story yet? There are rumours that Sarah Palin (McCain's running mate) is the grandmother, rather than the mother of her youngest child and that the family attempted to conceal their 16 year old's pregnancy...

I have seen that story and wow. I think it truly unbelievable that her waters broke, yet she carried on attending a conference before taking a stopping commercial airline flight from Texas to Alaska and then going to her small hometown an hour further away to have the baby. I can't imagine an airline letting her on the plane. I also can't believe that the pregnancy of a mother of four wouldn't show at seven months -- it is well documented that all her staff were very surprised at the news. And her daughter has quite a round and pregnant looking tummy in those pix. It is all very very fishy and terrible that they feel they need to cover up a teenage pregnancy in this day and age.

Photos not enough to say that this girl was pregnant. The election will really be about McCain vs Obama unless one of the VP candidates reveal something shocking?!

Hope this election isn't full of dirty tricks and "swifboating" ala Bush vs Kerry

wouldn't be the first time that it has happened, particularly considering the stigma attached, in a very Christian family, to having a teenage daughter pregnant. However - i think a lot of people project their own pregnancies onto other people - when i had my third i was fairly trim until six months - my waters broken, i had no contractions until around 24 hours later and drove myself to hospital, 30+ miles away (sitting on a towel) because my ex was pregnant. I like to believe it is Sarah Palins child - I like the idea that a woman with a 4 month old baby can run for vice president (even though i vehemently agree with a lot of her policies)and i think that the speculation is horrible to her daughter.

he's a baby. just a baby, she presumably loves him passionately, despite his actual relation to her as mother or grandmother.

If he is a grandchild then she has lied - to protect her daughter. As it doesn't seem to be a matter of life or death, I'd do exactly the same.

ex wasn't pregnant (oh, if only!) he was drunk!* more likely!

I think it does matter either way - if he is her baby then I think this whole thing of doing a speech and an eight hour flight after her waters broke, to deliver a baby that she knew had additional problems and was premature to boot doesn't show terribly sound judgment.

If he isn't, well, it shows a dishonest character and perpetuates the stigma attached to teenage pregnancies.

Apart from all this stuff she sounds like a pretty dire and inexperienced politician - scary considering McCain's age. There's a high chance she might end up running the shop eventually.

Because she is pro-life, I don't think that she would have covered it up. A smart move for her would have been to put her daughter in the spotlight, and say "Hey, she's pregnant, she's taking responsibility for her actions and we as her family are behind her 100%" That would have given her a tremedous amount of respect. So I don't think that the baby is her daughter's.

Plus in today's fashion where everyone where empire cut tops. Most girls look pregnant when they aren't.

I think we're seeing the inevitable smears and scandals that come whenever a new person becomes nationally prominent. The media immediately start to 'dig for dirt' and 'skeletons in the closet'. There were even 'nude' photos of her posted on the internet the past few days - supposedly from her younger beauty queen days. They were revealed as false - completely fabricated by a clever person with photoshop skills.

With regard to her being the grandmother of her youngest instead of mother - a coverup of a teenage daughter's pregnancy is possible. But isn't it statistically highly unlikely (though does happen) that a 16 year old would give birth to a Down Syndrome baby? And conversely much more likely that a mother aged 44 might give birth to a child with the condition?

I honestly don't know how I feel about her, but it's a shame she (and others) must now endure attempts at destroying credibility and character assassination.

the Republican dirty dricks machine could destroy Obama when they go into over drive. watch this space

The Clintons played it very very bad indeed. For example, why did Bill Clinton front the attack on Obama when the black vote was always critical to his elections? All they had to do is say "that boy Barack is a nice boy but just simply too inexperienced". Instead they made themselves look ugly. Can't understand how someone as astute as Slick Willy (Bill) misread this one so badly.

How did the Clintons make themselves look ugly to black voters? Don't understand your point, so can you explain further please.

like making reference to staying in the race just in case BO was assnated. Not in those words but that is how it was read.

like dismissing BO's challenge as just another Jesse jackson. That is not what he said but that is what was heard.

can list more