This is Embarrassing

O B A M A!! O B A M A!!

"We are the ones we have been waiting for! We can change the world! It is time for change, so we can have a better future. This is our America... my America...your America. ...someone to actually make a difference in my generation. I would like the rest of the world to think highly of our amazing country. I think the thing that really inspires me most about Obama is that he really is going to be President of the United States (profound, I know), he is not going to be the President of the top 10% or the President of the most powerful corporation...he is going to be our President, he's going to speak for us, because we put him there. That's what Obama is about...unity to this country and changing America's face to the world. He is almost like a revival in a lot of peoples' souls. I believe in Barack Obama, because he believes in us. We are the ones we have been waiting for!"

I don't want to take the wind out of peoples' sails, but where in this messianic song for Obama do we get any clear idea of the type of change that people are looking for, and that Obama can provide? Obama is someone to make a difference in your generation? Sure, but what kind of change is Obama offering? Obama inspires you because he will be the President of the United States, and not of just the top 10%? Since when does allowing all citizens to keep a higher percentage of their own money make you only the President of the top 10%? Why would Obama be the President of the "United States," and not just the President of the big teachers unions, and the labor unions, and the liberal advocacy groups, and the entrenched bureaucracies?

I welcome a debate with those with whom I disagree, but nobody can disagree with wanting a "better future" or wanting "inspiration" or about being the "ones we've been waiting for." Those statements are devoid of meaning, and look to sugar coat the fact that these United States are not united about whether we should have abortion, about whether the government should tax and spend more, and redistribute more, about whether succeeding in Iraq is central to our security, or about a host of other very important issues that we as a nation face.

If we are really the ones we have been waiting for, then the solemn and inspiring duty of changing this country is in our hands, and doing that means engaging the issues and those whose convictions will not be swept away by a tide of empty and lofty rhetoric.

Will it be Obamamania or the McCainiacs?

The following is from a recent Washington Post opinion piece by Peter Wehner:

So true...

"The one thing that will keep Obama's appeal from translating into widespread support among Republicans is that he is, on almost every issue, a conventional liberal. And while rhetoric and character matter a lot, politics is finally and fundamentally about ideas and philosophy. Whether we're talking about the Iraq war, monitoring terrorist communications, health care, taxes, education, abortion and the courts, the size of government, or almost anything else, Obama embodies the views of the special-interest groups on the left. In this respect, he should borrow from the Clinton strategy in 1992, when Bill Clinton ran as a "New Democrat," championed free trade, promised to "end welfare as we know it" and criticized, on hawkish grounds, the "butchers of Beijing."

Bill Clinton ran an intellectually creative race whose ideas appealed to non-Democrats. Barack Obama has shown no such inclination so far (his speeches, while inspiring, mostly avoid a serious discussion of policies). If he wanted to demonstrate his independence from liberal orthodoxy, for example, he could come out in favor of school choice for low-income families, which would both help poor families and demonstrate support for some of the best faith-based institutions in America: urban parochial schools.

If Obama becomes the Democratic nominee and fails to take steps such as this, his liberal views will be his greatest vulnerability. Obama will try to reject the liberal label — but based on his stands on the issues, at least so far, the label will fit, and it will stick.

Barack Obama is among the most impressive political talents of our lifetime. If he defeats Hillary Clinton, the question for the general election is not whether he can transcend his race but whether he can reach beyond his ideology."