I think I've about had my fill of Obama. I voted for him in his Senate race against the odious Alan Keyes. I've donated to his Presidential campaign and signed up on his web site. I've read his book Dreams From My Father and marveled at his ability to tell a story. I've read most of his second book The Audacity of Hope, but somehow I just can't seem to muster up the desire to finish it. I've stopped reading the messages sent from his campaign site and today I finally unsubscribed. I've lost all of my enthusiasm for an Obama Presidency, but that doesn't translate into any support for McCain.
I'm also sick of the Obama campaign stunts. First there was the contest in which the winners were randomly selected to have dinner with Obama. The contest entry price - a donation to the Obama campaign before the target reporting date.
Then there was the contest to fly ten people to Denver as guests of Obama at Invesco field to hear his nomination acceptance speech. Again, the price of entry into that contest was a campaign donation. The Obama campaign has had to change those contest rules in light of the fact that the contest was determined to be an illegal lottery by Colorado gaming officials. There is something disingenuous about using Obama's celebrity status to lure people into donating money to the campaign in the faint hope that they might actually get to meet and talk with the candidate. There are too many barriers between the electorate and our representatives now without making accessibility seem like a prize.
Now the campaign is encouraging voters to hold "platform meetings" in which their input will help shape the Democratic platform. It's not really clear how this will happen, but to my cynical way of thinking, platform meetings represent an opportunity for the campaign to sieze upon compelling stories to support positions they already wish to advocate. I suspect that this campaign will take the path of least resistance to the White House and borrow whatever ideas and stories it feels are useful to that quest.
I actually at one time believed in the words behind those elegant speeches about how we could change Washington politics. But as Obama begins to look more like just another politician to me, the words no longer ring true. When a flawed bill like the FISA Amendment Act is allowed to pass without so much as a whimper from those who would be our leaders, the hope that change will come to Washington becomes just one more dream dashed upon the rocky shoals of an intransigent government.
In his book The Audacity of Hope, Obama explains about how often the Senate is virtually empty as Senators and guests make statements for the record. He makes the following observation about the legislative process:
By the time we reach the floor and the clerk starts calling the roll, each of the senators will have determined—in consultation with his or her staff, caucus leader, preferred lobbyists, interest groups, and ideological leanings—just how to position themselves on the issue.
In the world’s greatest deliberative body, no one is listening.
It's true. No one is listening. Not to each other and not to the people they represent.