Life in the Middle Lane

Earlier this week I was in the break room having lunch and watching TV (yes, there is a TV in the break room).  CNN was on and they were showing Obama’s speech in Berlin.  Every day this week I have read at least one article or seen one news report about Obama being in the Middle East, or Obama being somewhere and being welcomed with open arms.  On the flip side, I also have been seeing reports about how pissed off McCain has been because the media is acting like a bunch of Obama groupies.  My co-worker and I laughed that Obama is a rock star on world tour and McCain was playing at the local fair.

I am starting to see Obama’s appeal.  He has transcended politics and now he’s just a rock star.  I mean, Bill Clinton was a cool politician, but Obama is just.plain.cool. Obama has swagger.

 I watched this man on TV yesterday, and in my humble opinion, I think we have a winner, boys and girls.   I didn’t jump of the Obama bandwagon after his speech at the Democratic convention a few years ago, I wasn’t really impressed with him during his Senate term, I thought he was alright while he was duking it out with Hilary but I really wasn’t feeling him. Why you ask? Because I’ve refused to believe all the hype.  I kept thinking, “He ain’t all that.  Michelle (his wife) is way cooler, smarter, and prettier than him.”  And all that is true, but I beginning to think that he may be the real deal.  This dude may be all that he’s cracked up to be, and wouldn’t that be amazing?

But back to the Berlin speech; the first five or ten minutes of the speech were amazing, the crowd was wild for him.  Let me tell you, this guy can work a crowd, and the crowd LOVES him.  He wasn’t even in America, and these folks are ready to vote for him.  I think the rest of the world is ready for American to cross the color line, even if we aren’t.  And don’t we deserve a president that won’t be an embarrassment to us around the world?

Obama fanatics are starting to feel bad because he has had to be a politician.  Duh, what did you expect? We all want a liberal utopia, but for now we live in the real world where, sometimes you have to bend your morals and not live up to the ideals of others so that you can get sh*t done.  Don’t be mad; understand that he’s not perfect.  I don’t think that perfection could handle DC and I don’t think that Americans would even vote for perfection.  We want/need someone in DC that shares our values and ideals, is smart enough to think in terms of cause and effect, and understands how the world works and won’t wimp out when tough decisions must be made.  And I think Obama may be the Rock Star that we need. And it doesn’t hurt that he can use a f*cking computer.

(But I still think that John Edwards would have made a good president too)