What's the Tale With Obama?

Ever since the somewhat loopy histrionics of the Republican Convention last week, it would appear that Barack Obama has been fighting an uphill battle for the emotional soul of American presidential politics.

Watching the ebb and flow of electioneering as the final two months tick away in this year's race, it is simply bizarre to watch and to try and comprehend just how unpredictable the voting politic can be when things come down to the wire.

When Sarah Palin, a virtual unknown on the national level was named as McCain's running mate, we were all caught with our pants down trying to find out just who this person was and what she would bring to the game.

As the GOP had their bash up north it became clear that although her record seemed to belie a gross lack of experience if not knowledge of national and foreign issues, nonetheless, America was shitting itself in order to make way for the historical aspects of her nomination.

Her confidence and attack-dog demeanor seems almost the perfect foil for Obama's calculated coolness. At a time in which so many Americans are concerned about how to make simple ends meet, these same Americans are apparently more than ready to make that leap into the land of political blind faith and go for their hearts over their minds.

As the political barometer began to swing so deep to the right in the last eight years it became practically customary to regard those with even moderately liberal views as almost being radical, now that things are beginning to level out, thanks in no small part to the extreme right doing as much as it could to sabotage its own mandate and turn in on itself, the drift back toward center makes this race tighter than ever.

Let me explain.

As unique a candidate as Obama is, when you look at his politics, radical is not the sort of word that comes to mind.

The same goes for McCain, who while being an unconventional and singular man in any party's definition, is also fairly moderate in many of his views regarding American politics.

Yes, both men are more or less firmly in their respective spectrums when it comes down to their beliefs, when you take, for example, Obama's view on gay marriage, you will find that being extreme is not exactly the way you might care to characterize him. (He is against it, for the record.)

I'm no pundit, but I am aware of the process at work here, and I am aware of the machinations that push and pull opinion into dark and predictably unpredictable alleys that divert attention away form what people really need to know to make an informed decision about who they want to support as the leader of this crazy, fucked-up country for the next four years.

With Palin, McCain has managed to pull off something of a small miracle. On paper, she is someone who seems so utterly incapable of handling the magnitude of what her job could possibly entail as both vice president, and, gulp, were things to go horribly wrong, president. And yet, this is America, a place in which damn near anything is possible, and also a place in which pop theater is often the most beloved form of entertainment. And more importantly, America is place in which every four years we cook down the issues and the personalities and the political climate and the way that we feel into a flavorless stock that has just the bare amount of nutrients to sustain us through our blind butchering of our country's future.

Barack Obama might want to listen to what the media is saying about the hearts of American voters right now, because while he is busy playing righteous and claiming the straight and narrow as his path towards political salvation, McCain is going for the gold, and while our current president is a fine example of a Republican who has done a bang-up job of ravaging our constitution, our souls, and our asses, McCain won't exactly leave us all feeling rosy when his time is up. Mark my words.

Can Obama make it happen if he takes the job come January? Lesser of two evils maybe? I hate partisan politics and the way they hijack our country in the name of control, but as far as the two-party system goes, Obama might not make a bad choice for once. If he can figure out how to regain his mojo, he won't have to rely more on the electoral college than popular favor to pull it off.