President Obama

Blacks in Chicago average about half the income of local whites, although Mr. Obama himself is probably doing his part to bring the average up. And good for him - he's a sharp guy who took advantage of his opportunities. But every politician has a pretty good living wage. What's different about Obama? Why do people love him so?

I think it's his silver tongue. Obama can give a damn good speech when he wants to, and frankly that's something recent Democratic Presidential nominees Kerry and Gore were unable to do. He's a charismatic guy, and he gives off the air of someone who is thoughtful, principled, and really smart. And what's more, he looks less stupid than most Democrats when he talks about religion. It's abundantly clear that there has to be someone providing a voice to counter the rampaging maniacs who currently control religion-in-politics. So on these two fronts, I think Obama is a great candidate.

Unfortunately, Obama doesn't meet the leadership standards I would really like to see, at least not at this point. These leadership standards are essentially the same ones that are being pushed across the internet by concerned rank and file Democrats about pulling the debate to the left instead of caving to the center, unplugging the influence machine in DC that puts its own above the country, and so forth. But Obama came of political age at the tail end of the Clinton triangulation era, before these values rose to prominence.

In 2000, Obama was dealt an embarrassing defeat in the Congressional primary by entrenched incumbent Bobby Rush right here in Hyde Park. His stated reason for tilting at this particular windmill was an astute observation that Bobby Rush is full of crap. Incidentally, Rush himself is beloved across the netroots for his sponsorship of the legislation to destroy the democracy of the internet, especially after receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions from telecom interests. Moreover, he helped arrange a hefty donation by telecom interests to a technology center in Englewood, which I would argue benefits the long term interests of his constituents less than having a measure of freedom on the internet, which would allow normal people to fight insiders like him. I guess I've talked myself into a circle at this point.

So Obama took his purified optimist schtick out for a test drive and was soundly defeated. He challenged the corrupted insider interests, and they put him in his place. The lesson he appears to have learned is that he should play the insider game, even if he sticks to his populist rhetoric. For example, he has had problems respecting the will of the party's voters in Connecticut, where his show of support for Ned Lamont has been tepid at best. He apparently feels it's OK to praise George Bush. And while offering up some bipartisan praise or refusing to go against a powerful guy at your office aren't capital sins in and of themselves, putting things like this together leaves one with the distinct impression that Obama isn't really on board with the whole grassroots platform. Not to say he wouldn't be an OK President (and certainly better than anything Republicans will ever offer), and not to say he couldn't straighten himself out, but I'm just not sold on him yet.