Obama - is this guy for real?

There are a bunch of "clean" and "articulate" people revving their engines at the start line of the coming presidential race. As much as I would like to see a woman in the Oval Office, there aren't enough showers or crisp dipthongs to make me support the poll-watching weasel that is our female front runner.

And while every day brings a new opportunity for good investigative journalism to turn up something I don't like about Obama, so far I really like what I'm seeing. I have been chided before for placing my hopes in what seem like pipe dreams but I, like most people (whether you admit it or not) am addicted to hope. I like to believe that Obama is speaking with all earnestness when he says,

If I think that the campaign is all about me, then I am going to lose. What I want is a campaign to be a vehicle for people to get involved, use their talents, feel connected to something larger than themselves."

He's Jimmy Carter, inviting the public into the campaign and, if all goes as planned, into the West Wing. But he has JFK's charisma and charm. The true test will be who he emulates in leadership... and while a few names come to mind - Clinton and his fiscal responsibility and global relations, Lincoln and his willingness to hear dissenting voices - my true hope is that Obama will remain as fresh and innovative if elected as he has seemed thus far.

When Obama asks:

Is the country ready for a conversation that doesn't presume that the other side are bad people and doesn't presume that everybody has got all the answers and doesn't expect its leaders to be perfect, but rather applies a certain practical, common-sense attitude?"

I want to believe that he truly is invested in the answer and in being the person to engage the country in that conversation.