A Running Commentary

This is a scary time for the Obama campaign. After months of smooth sailing and press adoration, the presidential contest that was supposed to be a foregone conclusion is a dead heat. What happened? Quite simply, Obama got a taste of his own medicine: a personality tsunami in the form of Gov. Sarah Palin.

Admittedly, even I am surprised at how big an upside her addition to the ticket has provided Sen. McCain. Ms. Palin has absolutely fired up my good-hearted, conservative-minded, church-nursery-volunteering mother-in-law and those like her. They love the way she talks, the way she dresses, her non-nonsense attitude and straight talk. She cuts through the crap while being a genuine Christian person and they LOVE her for it. It turns out that Republicans can do the personality campaign thing too.

This is a direct threat to the Obama because his campaign to date has been based almost entirely on his personality, not his political philosophy. His chief strategist, David Axelrod, is known for the mantra “the candidate is the campaign”. That’s what Axelrod did to elect Massachusetts Deval Patrick governor (from whom Obama copied his ‘Just Words’ speech) and it is certainly been the approach with Obama. Get on stage, be attractive, sound smart and smooth. Regurgitate the words “change” and “hope” frequently but never concretely define what that means in terms of political policy.

The approach has been working; affable Obama vs. the repellent Hillary Clinton in a personality contest wasn’t exactly a fair fight. Obama has thus been able to remain non-committal and vague as to the nuts and bolts of policy, keeping the focus on himself and his personal appeal as a candidate. He can say he’s totally against off-shore drilling to please his liberal legions in the primaries but then say that the new Democrat’s plan for drilling “merits consideration” when faced with pressure over energy in recent weeks. He’s never called out on the flip-flop because he’s never really under the microscope for policy. He’s just out there looking good as prom king.

This has served Team Obama particularly well as the vast majority of his political outlook is contrary to what a majority of Americans adhere to. It’s true. Despite all of the (much deserved) negative press for the GOP, very few people in this country believe Washington D.C. has all the answers to our woes. Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Congress, after all, consistently garner lower approval ratings than President Bush’s, and that’s saying something.

As Ronald Reagan famously said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” However disenchanted the public may be with the job Republicans have done, few thinking people will argue that putting more power in the hands of the few people who run Washington, regardless of which party their associated with, is a good idea.

President Bush’s and the Republican’s chief offense has not been the war, something the Democrats supported eagerly in the beginning (Obama conveniently wasn’t around). It’s not been the tax cuts, which feed entrepreneurial endeavors and create jobs. Rather, it has been the expansion of government spending and programs to suit their own fiefdoms and interests. Different interests than liberal democrats, certainly, but with essentially the same negative impact. Again, going to the Gipper, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government IS the problem”.

Most voting Americans are not stupid (we hope). Just because we want change doesn’t mean we want to switch to an administration that will commit ever more egregious errors and subject us to ever more governmental interference, expense, and fiat. John McCain has always been known and respected as someone willing to buck his party and go against the flow. He has now added a reform-minded running mate in Palin, someone totally outside the D.C. beltway whose record of standing up to big oil and cutting government spending is a growing legend.

No wonder Obama declared angrily this week “enough is enough” and vowed to switch from his personality campaign to focusing on issues. His big problem is that, if he’s honest, people are not going to like hearing what he really plans. Because there, lurking under the surface, is what an Obama administration would really advocate: Government as a solution to problems. More money for the government (read: tax increases) to create programs to fix our problems (read: inefficient programs that concentrate more and more power in the hands of Washington politicians).

I for one have no issue with an African American being president, none whatsoever. If anything, I’m more inclined to question whether a hormonal, nursing mother is the best fit (though, having lived with one, I must declare they seem capable of accomplishing anything they set their minds to). No, for me it is about the meritocracy Obama likes to talk about. What is the candidate’s political philosophy and concept of government.

My chief problem with Obama is not his age, gender, or race. It is his political outlook, the liberal bent that sees government as a solution; something capable of “fixing peoples souls” as his wife would say. I can’t say I agree with everything in John McCain’s head either, but the idea of an inexperienced, left-leaning Obama administration paired with what is sure to be dual Democrat majority in Congress is frightening. If his campaign is truly about to become an honest one about the issues, then I’m sure you’re about to see and hear what I mean.