Obama is first and foremost a very charismatic man. He is vaguely reminiscent of a motivational speaker - a speaker who encourages the individual to accept responsibility for their life path all the while offering up bits of conventional wisdom. He suckers supporters with his smooth, confident, hope inspiring message. Trust me, I understand. He’s like the best-selling self-help guide, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. If I’m suffering from a bout of insomnia and he’s running an infomercial on my local television station at two in the morning, I would buy into his message as well. I’d pick up the phone, dial the 800 number and order his DVD.

This is the problem with Barack Obama. As much as he dotes on collectivity and change, he offers nothing in the way of universal direction. Yes, he offers up individual hope. But what is his universal uniter? Change? I think its pretty clear that no matter who inherits the White House, we’re in for a change. So, ask yourself, what is it exactly that Obama is offering to you? What does his message of change entail? How does it differ dramatically from what Hillary Clinton is offering you? I’ll tell you what the difference is. Clinton has offered up a position and policy while Obama has offered up a “dream.” Last I checked, one cannot solve problems with dreams. If dreams solve problems I need to sleep more.

Allow me to explain. I want to believe the majority of American people are smart enough to know that Obama’s persistence in using the “We” to talk about national politics is a Thomas Moore, very Utopian dream and quite simply, not achievable. But it seems that most people are falling for his rhetoric left and right. Has any Obama supporter ever stopped to realize that at some point he is going to be required to make a decision which benefits one group of people and not another? “We” are not all equal in our needs and wants from the government. To believe that all of our wants and needs can be satisfied by a person who still has his own interests at heart is simply ridiculous. I want gay rights. This isn’t something my Mother strongly supports because she has wants of her own. She wants compensation from the government for my Father’s service in the military. So, I want to know, when push comes to shove, whose interest does Obama have at heart? He can’t rally for everyone. So, who does he help? Me or my Mother?

It seems that Obama’s greatest victory with the American public is that he didn’t support the war in Iraq. He comes back to this in debates time and time again. Are the people of America suffering from collective amnesia? Does anyone else recall the terror and chaos that ripped through this country after 9/11? The war is no longer popular because the public believes it has evolved in a fashion which has been exceedingly detrimental to this country’s image and because George Bush has done little to stop the bleeding. But, rewind to the months just after September 11^th and ask yourself, if you were a Senator would you have voted for the war in Iraq? I should hope that you would have. It was what Americans wanted from their government. We wanted justice. We wanted to know our homeland was secure. Since that time, things have changed. The fact that Obama did not endorse the war seems to suggest he wasn’t listening to the people – something that he claims to be able to do without fail. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, 62% of the American people polled (2002) approved of “military action” in Iraq (Council on Foreign Relations: http://www.cfr.org/publication.html?id=5051). In another poll, this one conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News in April of 2003, an astounding 72% of Americans supported the war in Iraq. (ABC: http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2008/03/war-in-iraq-the.html). Yet, Obama and his supporters repeatedly dote on the fact that he disapproved of the war from the get go as if this was somehow the clear and right decision six years ago. On the contrary, he took the road less traveled. His stance was an incredibly unpopular one and the American people seem to be forgetting this. It baffles me that the same people that supported the war in Iraq from the outset are the same people who are now supporting Obama because he opposed the war from the begining. How naive and hypocritical!

I want to call to people’s attention that Obama has, long before his candidacy, been about supporting what he believes in - not what “we” believe in and his stance on the war is a superlative example of this. In other words, the collective “we” he keeps talking about was no where around when he decided the war was not something he approved of (an “I” statement on his part). Obama states, ” I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars” (The Network Journal: http://www.tnj.com/archives/2004/september2004/final_word.php). In hindsight, does his decision seem like the right one? Of course it does now. But it didn’t resonate with the public opinion in 2002 or 2003. Where’s the “we” in that?

I frequently tell people that if politicians changed their minds as frequently as the general public does we’d have a serious problem on our hands. The inherent beauty of our government is that change is not something that can occur overnight. Change in the American government requires checks and balances and endless debate. The Constitution can’t be ratified in a day. This is a good thing. If the American people had their way, I am sure the Constitution would change on a daily basis.The reason I bring this up is that our incessant desire for change, whether it is to quickly get into a war or out of a war, has blinded us to the reality of change in government. Obama won’t simply step into the White House and change everything you once hated about the government. If you believe this to be true, you’re being naive and forgetting that he will have to fight conservatives and that a majority of government officials and politicians has to agree on the issues to create change. One man is not going to change the thousands of older white conservative men who have been sucking this country dry for years. Change is not a platform! Wake up and smell the coffee! What makes you think that if Bush wasn’t able to pass Constitutional laws dictating that marriage is between a man and a woman that Obama will have an easier time creating liberal changes?

Oh and let’s not forget that even though Obama claims he knew he might have to separate from Rev. Wright during his campaign that Obama gave his only taxable donation to the church two months before he declared his candidacy. What does this say about Obama? The fact that he was willing to stand behind a church and a man who he knew to be making disparaging comments about America just months before announcing his presidential bid seemsto suggest he thought that supporting the church was in his best interest! What does this say about Obama’s character - that he knew his pastor to be making racially charged accusations and yet he is unwilling to separate from him? Let me tell you, if I was going to a church which accused black people of giving AIDS to whites, I’d get up and leave in a matter of seconds. Its that simple. Why is it okay for Obama to be associated with someone waging a racial war and it wouldn’t be for Hillary? Hillary being a part of a non-violent Ku Klux Klan would be just as disgusting to me.

The 2008 primary season has seemingly turned into a high school election for class president! Who is more popular? Who is more charismatic? Its like watching the preppy, popular cheerleader (Obama) face-off against the thoughtful, well-organized nerd (Clinton). And we all know that the nerd was more capable and prepared to handle school issues. So, why on Earth did we vote for the cheerleader? Obama leads Clinton with the youth vote while Clinton leads amongst adults. Since when have the youth had an accurate understanding of the political system? Do we really believe that youth are capable of voting for the more qualified candidate when they can’t do so in a school election?

Actions speak louder than words and so far, Obama’s tank has run solely on words. Are there some issues I disagree with Clinton on? Yes. But, at least I know what my disagreements are. I know who and what I am voting for! Do Obama supporters even have the faintest idea? There is something to be said for experience because you know what you’re getting and how you’re going to get it. I’m sorry Obama, “change” is not a policy or a plan of action. Change is something that happens whether or not we want it to.