Obama Going To Try It?
All the signs appear to be pointing to it. The tea leaves indicate that Barack Obama wants to take a shot at the presidency. Of course, my particular tea leaf reader may or may not be calibrated properly. But Obama was the keynote speaker at an annual event Tom Harkin holds in Iowa today. He tried to take a tough stance on defense and security, too.
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'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."
This could get interesting if Obama tries a run. One difference - at least as far as the reporting here. Obama appears to be running for something. Warner is running against.
That may make all the difference in the world.
