The Obama We Don’t Know
With Barack Obama clinching the Democratic Party nomination, it is worth noting what an extraordinary moment this is. Democrats are nominating a freshman Senator barely three years out of the Illinois legislature whom most of America still hardly knows. The polls say he is the odds-on favorite to become our next President.
Think about this in historical context. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were relatively unknown, but both had at least been prominent Governors. John Kerry, Walter Mondale, Al Gore and even George McGovern were all long-time Washington figures. Republican nominees tend to be even more familiar, for better or worse. In Mr. Obama, Democrats are taking a leap of faith that is daring even by their risky standards.
![[The Obama We Don't Know]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-BO227_oj_fra_20080603183954.jpg) |
| AP |
No doubt this is part of his enormous appeal. Amid public anger over politics as usual, the Illinois Senator is unhaunted by Beltway experience. His personal story – of mixed race, and up from nowhere through Harvard – resonates in an America where the two most popular cultural icons are Tiger Woods and Oprah. His political gifts are formidable, especially his ability to connect with audiences from the platform.
Above all, Mr. Obama has fashioned a message that fits the political moment and the public’s desire for “change.” At his best, he offers Americans tired of war and political rancor the promise of fresh national unity and purpose. Young people in particular are taken by it. But more than a few Republicans are also drawn to this “postpartisan” vision.
Mr. Obama has also shown great skill in running his campaign. No one – including us – gave him much chance of defeating the Clinton machine. No doubt he benefited from the desire of even many Democrats to impeach the polarizing Clinton era. But he also beat Hillary and Bill at their own game. He raised more money, and he outworked them in the small-state caucuses that provided him with his narrow delegate margin. Even now, he is far better organized in swing states than is John McCain’s campaign. All of this speaks well of his preparation for November, and perhaps for his potential to govern.
Yet govern how and to what end? This is the Obama Americans don’t know. For all of his inspiring rhetoric about bipartisanship, his voting record is among the most partisan in the Senate. His policy agenda is conventionally liberal across the board – more so than Hillary Clinton’s, and more so than that of any Democratic nominee since 1968.
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Comments
The Barrack Hussein Obama we DO know is bad enough as he is… You mean he could actually be shown to be worse?
Vote AGAINST Barrak Hussein Obama, and give McCain his four years. Then we can start looking for his replacement.
hi there put aside what the press want to belive and look for yourelf do we really want to taken in by a smooth talker wake up people donot belive what he is trying to sell you LOOK AT WHAT HAPPEN WHEN THE GERMANY PEOPLE BELIVE THERE MAN WHO WANT CHANGE!!!!!!
We had better find out sometime in the next few months just who he is, where he came from and what he really believes. We also better know whether what he has done and said are rock solid or just for the convenience of getting elected. He lied before the campaign in a speech in a black church in Selma, Alabama, in 2/07, the congregation of which is composed of mainly older blacks who are hard to fool. He said that he was there because his father came here because of the march acrossd the bridge. The problem is that he was born in 1961 and the first march acoss that bridge was in 1965. He fooled none of these people.