It is not inconcievable that I could be persuaded to cast a presidential ballot for Barack Obama, depending on the matchups involved. He's a liberal, no arguing against that. But he seems like a rather respectable bloke from that side of the aisle.
He's in favor of abortion rights, which is a significant negative for me, and he takes a very government-intensive view to social reform, which I also take issue with. But he seems like a reasonable guy and, dare I say it, a good statesman. And there are good things to be said with having a reasonable man you disagree with in office, instead of an unreasonable one you agree with.
This article from TIME is his own tale of faith, and it is a color of faith that I don't quite recognize. It is different, and I am unsure what to say when he admmits he doesn't know what happens when he dies. Then again, there are times I am unsure - I have never done it, and rely by faith alone on the words of one who did.
Monday, December 11, 2006
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2 comments:
"That Barack Obama is so hot right now." Jacobin Mugatu.
It's funny you posted this today, because today I was thinking "Barack Obama sure is getting a lot of press as a first-term senator." We don't have cable or satellite right now, so all we get is NBC on our rabbit ears. And NBC news, no joke, has a token Barack Obama-worship piece practically every other day. Even his Monday Night Football introduction gets treatment.
Obama is unquestionably charismatic, likable, and extremely bright. But he tends to talk in glittering generalities that make me wonder how much change he will be able to effect beyond being a good talking head.
At the risk of belabouring the obvious point that the media plays favorites, I openly wonder if Obama was a rising conservative star if his official moniker in the press would be "Former Cocaine Snorter Barack Obama".
Example: "In Illinois today, Former Cocaine Snorting Republican Senator Barack Obama said today that . . ."
Is it bad if I wonder whether the President needs to be, in large part, a really good cheerleader?
I'd rather have a President whose vision was well-defined, even if various policies were more vague. When we vote for a policy that benefits us in the form of a President, we may get a very different vision than we expected.
I like glittering generalities, but I also like the attitude that comes across in things I have read of and by him (an admittedly small sample). He seems genuinely humble, actually seeking consensus, and to understand his opponents.
John Kerry or Hillary Clinton, by contrast, just seem like arrogant pricks that think they know so much better than us what we need.
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