2008 Woodie Awards
Grad student focuses on Obama's candidacy
Alex Lawson
Issue date: 11/12/07 Section: News
Last Thursday evening's Global Review session featured graduate student John Wilson lecturing on presidential hopeful Barack Obama, and how he does not fit the norm of a presidential candidate.
Wilson outlined the ways that Obama does not fit into the "Washington Consensus" and presented ways in which the media's portrayal of Obama is false.
"The Washington Consensus is a term for the kind of prevailing thought that the brain trust in Washington agrees on. Regardless of parties, they all kind of agree that this one course of action is best. Obama doesn't fit into that," Wilson said.
Wilson's lecture was served as a supplement to his recently published book, "Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest."
One of the most drastic differences between Obama and the Washington Consensus is in the war in Iraq, according to Wilson.
"He was against the war even back in 2002 and 2003, when he was preparing to run for the Senate. He felt it was a mistake and this was back when anyone who was not on the war bandwagon was supposedly committing political suicide," Wilson said.
Wilson said that Obama's foresight in the Iraq matter should not go overlooked by Washington or by the voters, but now he faces the same questions of how to get us out.
Another prominent part of Wilson's lecture was the media image of Obama and that it is not wholly accurate.
"One of the biggest criticisms that has stuck with Obama is that he is inexperienced, but I feel like that is a media generated myth," Wilson said.
Wilson presented the notion that both Obama and Clinton have unfavorable media images, but that Clinton's is a lot easier to overcome.
"Obama is viewed as inexperienced, but Hillary is just unlikable. The easy way for her to fix that is to just go around and be nice to people. For Obama to convince people he's experienced is a little more of an uphill challenge," Wilson said.
Wilson's talk resonated with several of the students on hand. At the conclusion of his talk, he welcomed students to contend or debate any points he made, which was met with silence.
Dan Tomera, a freshman physics major, was particularly impressed with Wilson's presentation.
"He showed a lot about what the Washington Consensus thinks about him and what [the Washington Consensus] would do instead of what Obama would do," Tomera said.
"He also showed how different he is from Clinton, to me, she seems like kind of a childish politician."
Tomera went on to say he will probably vote for Obama when the time comes.
Global Review is held every Thursday evening at 7 p.m. in the Eleanor Kong room in Walker Hall. It is free and open to the public.
Wilson outlined the ways that Obama does not fit into the "Washington Consensus" and presented ways in which the media's portrayal of Obama is false.
"The Washington Consensus is a term for the kind of prevailing thought that the brain trust in Washington agrees on. Regardless of parties, they all kind of agree that this one course of action is best. Obama doesn't fit into that," Wilson said.
Wilson's lecture was served as a supplement to his recently published book, "Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest."
One of the most drastic differences between Obama and the Washington Consensus is in the war in Iraq, according to Wilson.
"He was against the war even back in 2002 and 2003, when he was preparing to run for the Senate. He felt it was a mistake and this was back when anyone who was not on the war bandwagon was supposedly committing political suicide," Wilson said.
Wilson said that Obama's foresight in the Iraq matter should not go overlooked by Washington or by the voters, but now he faces the same questions of how to get us out.
Another prominent part of Wilson's lecture was the media image of Obama and that it is not wholly accurate.
"One of the biggest criticisms that has stuck with Obama is that he is inexperienced, but I feel like that is a media generated myth," Wilson said.
Wilson presented the notion that both Obama and Clinton have unfavorable media images, but that Clinton's is a lot easier to overcome.
"Obama is viewed as inexperienced, but Hillary is just unlikable. The easy way for her to fix that is to just go around and be nice to people. For Obama to convince people he's experienced is a little more of an uphill challenge," Wilson said.
Wilson's talk resonated with several of the students on hand. At the conclusion of his talk, he welcomed students to contend or debate any points he made, which was met with silence.
Dan Tomera, a freshman physics major, was particularly impressed with Wilson's presentation.
"He showed a lot about what the Washington Consensus thinks about him and what [the Washington Consensus] would do instead of what Obama would do," Tomera said.
"He also showed how different he is from Clinton, to me, she seems like kind of a childish politician."
Tomera went on to say he will probably vote for Obama when the time comes.
Global Review is held every Thursday evening at 7 p.m. in the Eleanor Kong room in Walker Hall. It is free and open to the public.
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