A conservative less interested in what could have been than what is:
Who is Barack Obama?
John McCain has done his best to advance
the idea that the electorate does not know, and reams of commentary
have been written about his supposedly elusive identity and opaque character, despite his being one of the most intensively covered and unusually self-chronicled candidates in American history.
Keen to find the secret or code that will unravel the supposed mystery,
his friends and enemies alike refuse to see what is in plain sight:
that Obama means more or less what he says about himself and his
policies. The real Obama is not terribly inspiring and may be rather
dull, which is paradoxically why his administration could be far less
polarizing than that of his predecessor, while being equally
unsuccessful.
Why do so many revel in the notion that Obama's
aloof "ambiguity" conceals either dastardly schemes or brilliant plans?
This is partly due to his remarkable biography, cited by supporters and
critics alike as a key to understanding the man. It is also due to the
misinformation of viral e-mails portraying Obama as a Muslim or
un-American
But a far greater part of it is denial.