Is Barack Obama for real?

Critics of Barack Obama usually fall into two camps - right wing ideologues or those who believe he's pulling one over on the electorate. It would be true to say that Obama has had a relatively easy go of it from the national media so far. For every Fox News driven "discovery" of abhorrent behavior that quickly dissolves when exposed to the truth (i.e. unrepentant smoking or attending terrorist madrassas) there are a multitude of stories that cast Obama in glowing terms. But the naysayers remain persistent and lately with stories about 17 year old parking tickets and the arcane structure of blind trusts, they've become louder. Why?

The Right Wing angle is pretty easy to understand. If you're a Republican, whom do you most fear? Hillary Clinton? Please...as mentioned on the post about Hillary and Barack's spat over David Geffen, the Republicans have a treasure trove of information to use against her in nasty (but likely effective) attack ads. And while it used to be Hillary occasionally would blurt out an alienating statement like the infamous, "What I am I supposed to do, stay home and bake cookies?" she now seems so intent on avoiding controversy that people are wondering if her obsession with the Presidency has stifled her true beliefs.

Do Republicans fear John Edwards? I doubt it. It's not impossible to imagine Edwards' populist message catching fire - with a different candidate. There's a reason there are so many lawyer jokes...people have an innate distrust of them and Edwards hasn't done much to dispel the notion that he's just a bit too slick (see the last post).

The other Democratic candidates are going to fall off the radar sooner rather than later. It would be nice to see Bill Richardson do well though, as he would make an outstanding Vice Presidential pick.

But yes...the Republicans do fear Obama - as they would fear anyone who is charismatic enough to capture the imagination of the average (centrist) voter. And, as I hope but admittedly don't know, there doesn't appear to be much dirt on the guy.

Which brings me to the other doubters - those that believe Obama is too good to be true. That he's selling us what we want to hear without giving us any meat. I've got a simple answer - if his message of shared sacrifice, isolating the extremists and galvanizing the silent majority in a call to action is calculated - why isn't anyone else doing it? Why are almost all of the other candidates following the tired and ultimately disastrous (for the country) approach of appealing to the extreme wings of their party? It used to be that's how you won the primaries - but the 08 campaign is about a sea change. It's about leaving the extremists behind so they can fight their little battles against each other while the rest of us move on and solve tough, seemingly intractable issues. Obama didn't calculate that the time is right for that kind of campaign, he was for it all along - and smart enough to realize time has caught up with his ideals.

It's way too early in the campaign for extremely detailed plans on how Obama hopes to achieve his goals. But they will come. If they don't I won't hesitate to raise objection. But for now, just be glad it appears we finally have a candidate who understands the truth of our nation's fate.

The best candidate for President won't solve our problems - he'll inspire us to solve them for ourselves.