Obama Running Like He Wants to Win

A lot of people have asked me in the last few weeks why Barack Obama doesn’t seem like “a man of the people” these days. In fact, I have asked myself that very question. Before every election, I try to research as much as I can about the candidates and try to get to know them as much as anyone can from a distance. That doesn’t mean I research their policy positions and leave it at that; I try to read their autobiographies (the trend for autobiographies, ladies and gentlemen is in!) and then evaluate who aligns most closely to my personal values.

I’m currently reading Senator Obama’s book, Dreams from My Father and I can’t really say that Barack Obama the presidential candidate seems like Barack Obama the political organizer in Chicago’s south side. But www.politico.com puts it well when it says he’s running like he wants to win rather than as a leader of a movement. Let’s face it: movement leaders don’t win as politicians because they don’t calculate victories based on approval ratings.

I have been very disappointed in reading the book and drawing the comparison with the present day Obama because he isn’t the person he characterized himself to be in his memoirs. This blatant difference has been bothering me and had it been Senator McCain I think I would have been equally as bothered. We lack consistency in politicians and I’m realizing that this election will be no different, regardless of what new record it sets.