I Am Not A Barack Obama Hater

While I am not going to jump on the bandwagon that many others have boarded and start “hating” on Barack Obama, in my mind, the jury is still out on whether or not he is our candidate. I simply do not know enough. Other than the fact that he just recently paid off some parking tickets that he accrued during his time at Harvard, I have no backdrop for the brother. I mean, he is only a first or second term Senator from Illinois.

On one hand, I am impressed that Mr. Obama has achieved superstar political status in so short a time. I also admire the way that he has handled himself in some of the political mudslinging that he has been pulled into. I just need to know more. I want to hear his plan for the future of our country. What is his economic policy? What is his stance concerning modern-day civil rights? Who are his political allies at this point? Who were they prior to his announcing his entry into the presidential race? I do like the brother — at least what I can see of him. However, I am not jumping on the bandwagon simply because he is black — or half black — or bi-racial — whatever he is this week.

What it all boils down to is this: no matter who gets into office, our attention should not be on the promises that candidates make to get our votes — we would be better served to start thinking about what compromises they will have to make once they get into office. That, ultimately is the measure of a politician. They say whatever they can to get our votes — sometimes they actually even believe what they are saying. The problem is that political truth is both fleeting and relative. The truth during a campaign is markedly different than truth once elected. The problem is there is absolutely no way to determine what post-election truth will be in the vacuum of a campaign.

One possible way to get a glimpse into this is to look closely at both the political allies and economic supporters of our wide field of candidates, both Democratic and Republican. Those are the individuals that tip the balance once a candidate is elected. We cannot and will not be able to know what President Obama would do, say, think or legislate. Barack himself would not be able to do that until he is elected and has to pay back all of the political favors that got him there.

WORDS: Rev. Darren A. Ferguson