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How Obama Is Like a Dot-Com

Politics of hope are a bubble waiting to burst

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 19, 2008 11:35 AM CST

(Newser) – Barack Obama may be generating excitement across America, but so did tech stocks during the late-'90s bubble, writes Der Spiegel’s Gabor Steingart. "The rhetoric all sounds strangely familiar," he warns, comparing Obama’s campaign to that absurd era in the market’s history. Just as the bubble stocks had no use for pesky balance sheets, Obama sees little need for policy specifics.

Obama’s vision of future is ill defined, and when he does mention foreign policy specifics, Steingart sees red flags, contending that "there is no room for thoughtfulness in the turbulent world of Obamania." Hillary Clinton, by contrast, is like a traditional manufacturing stock, Steingart says: "If she's a secure investment, he is speculation."

A Barack Obama poster flanks students on stage cheering at a Barack Obama rally at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, in Honolulu, Friday, Feb 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Lucy Pemoni)
A Barack Obama poster flanks students on stage cheering at a Barack Obama rally at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, in Honolulu, Friday, Feb 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Lucy Pemoni)   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., makes remarks during a community meeting Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008, at Northcentral  Technical College, in Wausau, Wis. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., makes remarks during a community meeting Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008, at Northcentral Technical College, in Wausau, Wis. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)   (Associated Press)
Supporters reach out to touch Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., after his address at a rally Monday, Feb. 18, 2008, in Beloit, Wis. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Supporters reach out to touch Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., after his address at a rally Monday, Feb. 18, 2008, in Beloit, Wis. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)   (Associated Press)
Angie Bonilla, 19, cries as she listens to Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speak at a rally Monday, Feb. 18, 2008, in Beloit, Wis. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Angie Bonilla, 19, cries as she listens to Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speak at a rally Monday, Feb. 18, 2008, in Beloit, Wis. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)   (Associated Press)
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