One of the recent TPM posts challenged Obama supporters to identify weaknesses that the GOP will potentially exploit and use against Obama in the general election.  The post also asked why Obama hasn't done more to end the war in Iraq.  That's a good question given that he publically spoke out against the war before the authorization vote.

On actively opposing Iraq on the Senate floor, my guess is that as a junior Senator Obama is smart enough to know that a person gets nowhere trying to shovel snow in a blizzard. Until now, there has been a virtual whiteout of support from our elected officials, save a few like Russ Feingold and Carl Levin in the Senate.  The few that stand up and try are still ridiculed as quitters. This is among the many elected officials still in the Senate and Congress who who were responsible for the authorization in the first place. Let's remember that it has only been recently that even expressing opposition to the war in public did not invite accusations of being "unpatriotic" and bring public ridicule for not supporting the troops. We have Cindy Sheehan and others like her to thank for changing the perception that "support" can actually mean bringing the troops home.

So on that one, I have to say that Obama is one Senator. He's not Superman.

Without a doubt, the GOP will have something about drug use or lack of experience to use to attack Obama. But on experience there is an equally strong argument against the kind of experienced team John McCain will be bringing or keeping in a GOP Administration. Remember how everyone was so comforted by Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz/Cohen/Pearle/etc...because they were the most experienced foreign policy team our nation had ever had? They've given "experience" a bad name. Now, the experience argument is easily won by the judgement and instinct argument, which Obama does have on his side. The war judgement call can easily be played against McCain's "straight-talk" fearmongering about another war with Iran. What a colossally bad idea that would be...and no question that it will be a real possibility in a McCain Administration, that is if Bush or the Israelis don't beat him to it before 01/09.

The old "tax and spend" democrat red-herring won't work this time around either because most everyone ( except rich people) will be for a redistribution of the bush tax cuts toward the middle/lower class. They can use that attack all day to raise the awareness that Obama is actually going to do something about reversing them.  Get to it, GOP! 

No doubt, Karl Rove is going to work at channeling Lee Atwater's spirit to conjure the most damaging thing possible against Obama. The beauty is, "we the people" will have a chance to say piss off; No we're not going to let the GOP swiftboat and slander, and steal our future any longer. And it is not about slinging more mud at them, but about stepping out of the mud pit: Let the pigs stay in there and eat their own crap.

As for weaknesses I perceive, well, the one that sort of bugs me is that Obama talks a little slow. My husband does that and it always tempts me to finish his sentences, which isn't appreciated. With Obama, I seem to be so engaged in listening, and hanging on to his every word, that I become patient. I genuinely feel patient while waiting for the end of his thought. So, that is one of his weaknesses that is helping me develop and practice a new personal strength!

I'm sure there are faults and mistakes throughout his past, but Hillary has plenty too. There must not be anything criminal or we would have a whiff of that by now. He doesn't seem to be the philandering type, nor a wheeler-dealer type, so there's a decent chance that he might just be a well-intentioned, thoughtful man who is very smart, committed to his country, God, and family, and who wants to use his gifts and good fortune to make the US a better place for all of us.

It certainly doesn't hurt to believe that.  Isn't he innocent until proven guilty?