Thoughts about Obama

As I said yesterday, I do have real concerns about both presumptive Presidential nominees and am looking for real advice, links to accurate information, and answers to questions I have about the candidates. I am starting with Obama today mostly because he seems to be the superstar and because as a Democrat, he is the one I should be leaning towards right now but in reality, I'm leaning away from him.

Here are my concerns and if any of my friends can dispel them, I am grateful. If you feel the same, I appreciate the support. And if you want to just have a good hearted debate, then outstanding!

My number one concern about Obama is that I feel he is the opposite side of the same coin as then Gov. Bush in 2000. Somehow the relative "unknown" (I am aware that having a ex-President daddy doesn't make one completely unknown but as a political leader he was) garners the support from all the party bigwigs. Whereby they become surrogates to help the candidate win the support from the far-fringed part of the party to start a monumental snowball of support that wins the primary. This support from the party bigwigs also take on a Rove-esque (in the case of Bush actually Rove; for Obama it's Axelrod) style of campaigning that makes comments and then lets dissenters to those comments become labeled as obstructionists, those who distract, or racists.

In fact, although I do feel Obama has a rather high gloss* sheen, he himself does not bother me as much as his supporters AKA fans. Whether Sen. Obama is encouraging his "Obamabots", as they have become to be called, or simply turning a blind eye to them, they have accused people of being racist for not supporting Obama whether race is a part of it or not. They have spread many falsehoods about other candidates and said blatantly disrespectful things. I am not naive enough to believe that a campaign can't get dirty. However, Sen. Obama set his bar at a very high spot and I have not seen his campaign run by Axelrod ever come close to clearing that bar. In fact they simply just walk under it and call it a distraction if someone points out their disrespect.

Freedom of speech and press is vital to our government and I worry about this. The media seemingly salivates at the prospect of a Pres. Obama and has not really been partial at all during this campaign. When a journalist does ask a valid question that is in some way harmful to Obama's campaign, the response is not an answer but a "we don't participate in that kind of politics--it's just a distraction." A distraction from what? From being a Senator of Illinois? A distraction from looking presidential? Is not one of the tasks a U.S. President have to answer questions from citizens?

All in all, I want this one question answered: As U.S. Senator, what has Obama done to better his state and the U.S.? What bills did he actually envision, research, and author? How has his work ethic proven that I should believe he will make an outstanding President?