If Barak Obama were Republican, do you think he would be taken seriously as a presidential candidate?

Question

Do you remember Alan Keyes and how the media snubbed him all throughout the campaign process?

Answer 1

You are comparing apples to oranges. Obama is someone the majority of mainstream America can relate to. Alan Keyes is a right wing nut job. He did not even represent the right wing of the Republican party, he was to the right of the right wing.
He did not stand a chance against a popular African American state senator. Keyes was only chosen because of his color.
He did not live in the state of IL when he was asked to run for the senate seat, he was a long time resident of MD, and they just wanted to put on a "brave" face. If he was/is to be taken seriously, wouldn't the Republican party have encouraged him to stay in the state of IL to see if he could run again against Obama in the next election cycle for Obama's seat? He is back in MD
The GOP had no hope in hell of winning the seat from Obama so they played the 'color' card to see if people would have been dumb enough to vote for Keyes because, you know, every black person looks alike.
Alan Keyes joined the race in August 2004, less than 3 months before the election.
In the 3 televised debates, Keyes and Obama had diametrically opposite views on what mattered to the IL voters.
Obama would not be taken seriously as a Republican candidate. He would only be, if there was a opposing democratic African American and that is when he would be encouraged to run but not before.

Answer 2

Not a good question in my view, Obama's views are little too much to the left to even fit in with the Republicans and even then what difference does it make? As for Alan Keyes, he wasn't really that far up in the 2000 primary to begin with, Bush and McCain were the main contenders so whatever the media said about him didn't matter, not to mention that the Republican party has never had full-fledged African American support since the days of Lincoln so even if Keyes had more attention in the media, is his race alone something to vote for? No it's not, in fact lately there was a news story that in South Carolina that Hillary Clinton had more support among Blacks in that state. What the media political analysts look at is which candidates have gathered enough base to become the party's candidate and what happens in New Hampshire and Iowa, that's about it.

Answer 3

The reason Alan Keyes was plowed by the Media is because He boldly ran on His Christian Principles and the Godless Media is always ready to Crucify Christ any chance they get.
Obamas a "Yes Man" He'll do well with the Media, they'll have their way with Him like Ned Beatty in Deliverance.

Answer 4

There's no comparison. Alan Keyes is a political hack. Barak Obama is the real deal.

Answer 5

I think it depends. If he were a first term senator, maybe. Although he wouldn't be able to get the media attention Obama is getting for outright ignorant Bush bashing. He looks good, sounds good, but does not know what he is talking about. His only hope is that Hillary doesn't savage him during the primaries and maybe he can learn something about the issues when he runs in 2012 or 2016.

Answer 6

It's bad enough that some within the black community think that he is not 'black' enough. If one is not black with direct African heritage, then no black person is black.
If Obama was a conservative, he'd be branded as an Uncle Tom.

Once the Dems lose their monolithic, black vote, they're finished!

In addition, I find it amusing how people refer to republicans as right-wing nuts, while referring to their liberal counterparts as moderates.

Obama, although in the mainstream, is left of Hillary Clinton. Would he be considered a left-wing nut?

The true is that Dems don't really care whether or not the person is black, or a woman. What they care about is whether or not that black person or woman is a Democrat. If being black or being a woman is the only requirement, why not vote for Condoleeza Rice (if she were running)?

Answer 7

He would be given the media anal probe instead of being treated like the 2nd coming-- Note the media's continual mention of Mitt Romney's change of heart on abortion, whereas Obama was pro-life until a few years ago (haven't heard that, have you?). Of course, if he was black and had conservative values, he would be declared an "Uncle Tom" and accused of turning his back on his people (i.e. Clarence Thomas). He would be taken seriously by true Republicans looking for a conservative with a backbone, regardless of color.

Answer 8

I feel that Obama is a statist, and therefore his politics center around a theory that government exists to protect people from themselves. For that reason, he would never fit seriously into the GOP.

The statist theory is a stark contrast to the republican tradition that government exists solely to protect liberty--which means that if people act in ways that are not in their best interests, it is up to friends, family, individuals to intervene, not government.

Statists will enact any measure that ensures government's interests. For example, people like Obama will always vote for socialized medicine, because it gives the state authority to control behaviors that are detrimental to health. Only a government that pays for your healthcare would feel morally obligated to impose smoking bans, transfatty acid bans, seatbelt laws, helmet laws, et cetera.

People like Obama will act like they care about people. They'll support anything that makes people feel stongly enough about something that they will in turn support their efforts to deal with it. That is where a statists--or modern liberals--get their power.

For example, take the swelling concern over second hand smoke. 50 years ago, who cared? Today, millions lose sleep over the fact that they may have accidently breathed in someones smoke. So, instead of being a statesman and talking about choice--the choice to smoke, the choice to pick restaraunts, the choice a business owner in America has to allow smoking or not--a statist chooses instead to ride the wave of public fear and take licence to control with force the behavior of everyone involved, including, the old arch enemy of statism, big business.

To that extent, Obama would never be welcome as a republican. That is not to say that there are no republicans who do not think his way on specific issues. It isn't the way he votes. The reason he wouldn't fit is WHY he votes the way he does. The reason is that Obama's overall political philosophy that leads him to vote the way he does is repugnant to conservatives.

Answer 9

I think he is taken seriously as a candidate now. I have been watching him do interviews and he handles himself well. At this time I do tend to lean toward Hillary on experience alone. However this could change as time goes by and I get to know what Obama really stands for. for people that think he is to young, so was John Kennedy and he did ok.

Answer 10

Following Bush's example regarding drugs/alcohol and Colin Powell's popularity, I don't see why he shouldn't.

OTOH, Republicans expect their candidates to be white and conservative, and hide the dirty stuff in the closet. Obama is black, liberal, and very honest and candid. He would not be considered by the Republican crowd for 5 seconds.