Obama for President?

(I had posted the following commentary on January 16, 2007, well before the primaries and Obama's fast rise in popularity.)

I saw Barack Obama and his wife on TV recently. Here are my personal observations.

First of all, he is likeable and charismatic. He speaks well, and he responds well to questions although some of his answers seem rehearsed. He is a skilled politician. He is an expert user of rhetoric. Of course, these are not the right reasons to vote for someone, but it is not a terrible thing that the candidate knows how to walk the walk and talk the talk of politics. The point is he could win.

But will he really be a good president? What would his positions be as opposed to his rhetoric? Will he be able to take on this awful state of the union that he would be inheriting? How will he address important issues like Iraq, corrupt war pofiteering, our carbon fuel dependency, and the many other issues?

I have learned in my lifetime not to put too much faith in politicians. There is no political "savior" that will make it all better. These guys are only human. They have personal ambitions. They have egos. Politicians have to be players and manipulators—it goes with the territory. Sadly, integrity and conscience can be big liabilities for politicians.

That all being said, I think it's possible to get reasonably intelligent people with basic conscience into decision making positions. I think that Senator Obama is one of those people.

Then there's the Hillary question. She's popular enough to win the Democratic primary. But, as many pundits have already pointed out, she may have a polarizing effect since she is so hated by those to the right. (I usually hate to repeat what the pundits say, but in this case I believe there's something to it.) It would be a drag on the country to have to deal with more constant, vicious attacks like the ones that were made on on the other Clinton.

Hillary Clinton's biggest liability is that she initially supported the war in Iraq. That's enough to discourage the very large anti-war constituency from even going to the polls. (That could go both ways, but it seems the anti-war numbers are growing.) Obama, on the other hand, has always opposed the war in Iraq. No waffling.

I know I haven't said anything really original here, but that's not the point. Some things are just obvious, and I think Obama is the obvious choice for president in 2008. And I hope he kicks McCain's butt!

http://www.barackobama.com

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