Obama Coming at You!

October 12, 2008
Obama Coming at You!

I'm going to do a multi-part series on Barack. We've talked a lot about Sarah; both in the pressosphere and in this blog. Indeed, the pundicrats have examined her more closely than her gynecologist. They've looked at and discussed ad nauseum her religious beliefs and what they may mean to the country; her level of, and type of, experience that "qualifies" her to be a heartbeat away from the button; her "associates" and dubious connections (remember the flap over the AIP?); her ethical "issues" (eg: Troopergate); stuff from (way in) her past (her High School basketball career(!), her husband's 22 year old DWI, and other); the "non-standard" places and ways she was raised ... as well as, to some degree, her natural charisma, oratorical dynamism and ability to connect with ordinary folk.

Gee. Sounds like she and Barack have a lot of issues in common doesn't it? But, in my considered opinion (considered after months of scrutiny of the coverage of this election), Obama has essentially been getting a free pass from the punditocracy and Palin has been bloodied and hammered for far less egregious and less dangerous matters. Not to mention the fact that he is running for President, not Vice President.

I disagree strongly on many of the issues with both Palin and Obama (as well as McCain and Biden). But, at this point, I'm not quite so concerned about the "issues" in this blog. We all need to be and we all need to be comfortably conversant with the positions of each. In a perfect world, perhaps that's all we would be concerned about. Unfortunately perhaps, the national conversation has centered more about who we trust to get us through these times and who is "fit" and has the appropriate character to be president; rather than the specifics of what each believe.

Unlike a lot of those who rail at the punditocracy ... I understand that those, too, are legitimate questions. If you agreed, for instance, with President Carter on all of his policy and positions on all issues ... you were sadly disappointed. It wasn't that he was a bad man at all. Indeed, he appears to be (and was at the time), a very ethical and moral man. But he had a failed presidency not because of his stand on the issues ... but because he didn't have the right character to succeed at implementing them. And it is certainly legitimate to ask if someone has the right temperament to deal with "button issues" at 3:00 a.m.

So, instead of pretending to take a non-existent moral high road and focus solely on issues and ideologies, I'm perfectly comfortable with, and think it a legitimate, possibly vital, inquiry to discuss the people who may need to deal with those issues.

I'm not intending to do a hatchet job on Obama. But I do think there is a lot that most people truly don't know about the man. Despite his many more months on the campaign trail ... in a lot of ways, people know more about Palin (whether what they "know" is correct or not) than they do about Obama! I hope to help rectify that.

So, stay tuned!