A Lesson from Childhood: There is No Such Thing as Magic

Perhaps the average voter has been reading too much Harry Potter as of late. For some unknown reason I decided to give myself heartburn a few minutes ago by reading user comments to an online New York Times article about Maria Shriver's endorsement of Barack Obama. I shall repost a few of them so you get a flavor of why I have this wretched feeling of unease:

I am still awed and thunderstruck after watching the rally in Los Angeles on the UCLA campus I know so well. OBAMA is certainly destiny’s child — I saw him in Albuquerque two days ago and he had that anointed glow.

— Posted by lotario castillo

All I can say is that when she showed up, people were like “woah”.

— Posted by KD

That rally was AWSOME !!!

— Posted by Fast Eddie

An historical event today! California is on fire as is America. Incredible women and role models, all of them. I was moved to tears and feel hope for my daughters, America’s daughters.

— Posted by Jen, St. Paul, MN

Gosh. I hope this helps with the women voters in California ! Oprah, Caroline Kennedy - all those women governors from the middle of the country and senators who’ve endorsed Obama. If this doesn’t win some women voters, then I don’t think there’s anything left to do in this short amount of time.

I have seen anecdotal evidence from canvassing for Obama in the northeast for the last month that African American women are now overwhelmingly supporting Obama. I just got back from knocking on doors for Obama in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where I met African American women in their late 80s and 90s who had been torn between Clinton and Obama but have decided to vote for Obama. They told me that they wanted to be part of “history.” It brought tears to my eyes.

— Posted by Sally

What a fabulous election. At last someone we can vote for without holding our noses. Go Demos!!!
Go Obama!!!

— Posted by Anita Lefkort

One inspiring speaker after another, shown only on CSPAN as far as I can tell. Too bad, because their speeches were some of the best of the campaign (aside from those given by Obama himself).

Maria’s right, this is “a moment” for us all– a time in history when we can believe again in the American dream, transcend the partisan divide, and restore our image around the world.

Yes we can!

— Posted by Karen S

I was watching and the whole rally was powerful. When I saw Maria Shriver come in I knew Barack is going to be our next president.

“As California goes, so does the country” I believe that.

Barack in ‘08

— Posted by Bry


OK....enough of that. Everybody is so caught up in the inspirational aspects of the Obama campaign. "Destiny's child"? I'm sorry but it's starting to go a bit far--the Obamaniacs need to chill out and ask: Senator Obama, what do you actually believe? And what kind of policy are you going to implement to help remedy the most important fiscal issues facing this country? How are you going to help stave off the worst financial disaster in 100 years? Or perhaps more importantly...do you even realize we are facing the greatest monetary crisis in America's history?

I'm afraid we wouldn't really get any answers if Obama were put on the spot. We would get rhetoric about what's wrong with Washington and how American can have hope again. I personally have little hope in the face of a prospective President of the United States who relies on vapid rhetoric, his good looks, and his speaking skills to win a national election. I know that American likes glitz and glamor, but it has to be backed up with substance if we are to continue to have hope.

There is no worse hope than a false hope, and that is what Obama represents: the false hope of a return to Camelot, the false hope of unity, the false hope of change. It is laughable to me that people are so enamored with this man. He is just another in a long line of charlatans who have tried to capture the nation's attention with a pretty speech.

There is no doubt America is in desperate need of an articulate and charismatic leader. Unfortunately Obama seems to be the person filling that void. Yet, he is not really a leader. He is not inspiring anybody on the Right to unity, and we can expect one of the most bitterly divided elections in America's history--yet again. The problem is that Obama wants to push his radical socialist, anti-market agenda by convincing half of the country to vote for him.

What we really need is a leader who can get the entire country behind a non-ideological pragmatic policy platform that is neither Left nor Right, but will move America in the direction of restoration. Sadly, there isn't one right now.