The good old Times cautions against placing excessive hopes on Barack Obama and bestowing virtues and laud upon him before seeing the goods. I will not lie, I like the guy. The policies he proposes are as sure to miss their targets as American missiles are of missing Bin Laden when there's no US election coming, but he gave the heir presumptive Billary the roughest ride of her life, and maybe the boot out of politics.
In a recent reply on his "Italians" blog, Corriere Della Sera journalist Beppe Severgnini argued that an Obama nomination would ensure the grassroots and "new electorate" he galvanized will come out and vote Democrat in November, while Clinton on the ballot paper would suffice to disillusion them, securing a Republican victory. This is possibly true, and it would be a sad reality. It would indicate an Obama personality cult of sorts, an "Obama or nothing" mentality that would damage the Democrats far beyond the drawn-out nomination race we are witnessing.
Hailed as the breath of fresh air with a bit of anti-establishment feeling, Obama has charmed many to the point that nothing seems to sink his ship. From reverend Wright to Hamas-entangled aides through blue-collar insults, his campaign does not seem to suffer.
This is worrying. He hasn't been the subject of the kind of scrutiny most presidential candidates go through, and hasn't been held to account for his weaknesses as a person aiming for such high office should. He may be inspiring and charming, but I fear for his ego.
The premature sanctification of St Barack of Chicago (or Honolulu if semantics is important) is consistent with the savior ideology many Dem fans adhere to. This kind of thinking is likely to give President Obama a power trip, which can only result in ill-thought measures being rushed through a blue Congress in the wake of popular (or factional) enthusiasm. Hoping for a messiah weakens people's perceptions of their liberties as well, as they entrust the newly-come prophet with any authority he may demand to carry out the promised "Change We Can Be Duped Into".
It would be interesting to investigate how the party that champions civil liberties (but also statism) can be the egg that hatches the biggest threat to American freedoms and Americans' love of them since the Patriot Act. For my part, I'd stay safe with McCain and a weak Democratic majority in one of the Houses.
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