WyoCo / HearIt / Trabing

Slowing down for Barack Obama

Visit the official Barack Obama for president web site and you are greeted by the word ‘change’ no less than 8 times.

Barack’s web site serves more than just humdrum everyday ‘change’, you can also find ‘real change’ and ‘hope and change’. At last count three instances of ‘stand for change’ are available for public consumption.

On February 5th Barack is quoted as saying, ‘We are the change we have been waiting for.’ Maybe he was really tired when he said that.

What does the use of this single word represent as a political strategy?

If Barack is to be elected President his strategists have concluded that the idea of ‘change’ should be substituted for positions on real issues.

Positions on specific issues are nasty political land mines that should be avoided at all costs. If you commit to a position on an issue you tend to alienate voters who disagree with that position, this is true for either Liberal or Conservative politicians.

On Sunday, February 10 2008, Barack was interviewed by Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes and was forced to announce he would not be pulling U.S. troops from Iraq unconditionally were he actually elected President. Said Barack, “No, I always reserve as commander in chief, the right to assess the situation.”

Now how is the antiwar left going to receive this news from the man who represents ‘change’?

The problem is that a politician can only say nothing, even if it is pretty nothing, for so long before they have to say something.

So let me offer you this observation.

In the west there is a term used for things that look good until you really get a look at them, the 45 mile per hour fence.

Things, such as fences or politicians, may look pretty good at 45 miles per hour, but if you slow down or stop the flaws become obvious and what may have looked really good suddenly becomes substandard.

Most fences look good at 45 miles per hour, but until you slow down you really can’t say for sure if the posts are set right and the wire is tight.

Barrack Obama is the political equivalent of a fence people haven’t taken time out to take a good look at. As Barack is pinned down on specific issues, such as withdrawal from Iraq, the people who have been so quick to say he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread are going to start slowing down to take a better look.

There is a difference between seeing a billboard at 75 miles per hour or a 20 second television commercial and actually understanding a politicians position on specific issues.

No doubt there are those who don’t care, they are infatuated with the cult of personality and nothing matters besides seeing Barack sworn into office.

But between now and November a lot of people who are going to slow down and take a look at Barack Obama, these insightful voters will discover he is little more that a big smile and a well tailored suit.

Obama may call what he represents as ‘change’, but in reality he is trying to sell the same feel good rhetoric that George McGovern lost big with back in 1972.

How well will Barack’s campaign handle the inevitable ‘change’ that will come as voters come to understand that Barack Obama has nothing new to offer?

That’s the problem, once the people know the truth it will be to late for Barack to do anything.

The best hope Barack Obama has is that most voters won’t slow down long enough to see he isn’t ready for the Presidency.