THE REAL DEAL
January 18, 2008
by: jovial_cynic
by: jovial_cynic
image: Obama in the 'hood (cc) - ART -
Critics have accused Obama of not being in the system long enough to be effective. I'll suggest that he hasn't been in the political machine long enough to have been corrupted by it.
Obama began by recalling a moment in Tuesday night's debate when he and his rivals were asked to name their biggest weakness. Obama answered first, saying he has a messy desk and needs help managing paperwork - something his opponents have since used to suggest he's not up to managing the country. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said his biggest weakness is that he has a powerful response to seeing pain in others, and Clinton said she gets impatient to bring change to America.
"Because I'm an ordinary person, I thought that they meant, 'What's your biggest weakness?'" Obama said to laughter from a packed house at Rancho High School. "If I had gone last I would have known what the game was. And then I could have said, 'Well, ya know, I like to help old ladies across the street. Sometimes they don't want to be helped. It's terrible.'"
...
"Those kinds of tricks, that kind of approach to politics is what has to stop because what happens is then nobody believes anything," Obama said. "The voters don't believe what politicians say. They get cynical. Folks in Congress, they'll tell you they're looking out for you - they're looking out for somebody else. We have to change that politics and that's why I'm running for president."
There's a reason Obama has been called "the real deal." It'll be nice to have a person who is genuine in the White House.
