The news media, deep in coverage for "Race For The White House 2008" already, does not like to be proven wrong in its coverage. It prides itself on its exit polls, campaign rumors, and reporting scandals. The candidates play to this coverage, sometimes masking their true intentions with bombastic actions, revelations, and a canned charisma that can point to one reason for apparent voter apathy lately.
The actual role of "politician" is so typecast in today's society, that it's easy to believe the older citizens who say it's been generations since we've had a president we can believe in & trust. Without getting preachy and political, I can agree with that thinking: everyone seems homogenized to where we can almost always guess their next action.
I always sympathize with those who want to give politics a go (a result of another typecast, I suppose), but there are occasional candidates whom I do root for. Senator Barack Obama from Illinois is one of those who has taken the media and the country by storm. From the beginning, he has been mentioned as a potential presidental candidate.
But he has deviated from the proverbial script: he has actually communicated to his supporters, "Hold the train and let's be realistic."
Wow: a realistic politician? How rare is that?
The way Obama's career is taking off, he could probably have his choice of what office or position to hold next. Yet he is showing a humble side of himself in telling the people by his words and actions that he doesn't want to make a bold move until he knows it's time.
As was quoted on CNN.com by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynne Sweet, "He is so appealing because he has escaped some of the normal, you know, bad stuff that happens to people on the campaign trail... And here's the realization I think his people and Sen. Obama is coming to, and it's this: you can't time timing."
Somebody may finally have the currently unique idea that really can get them anywhere they want to go, and this would make me push for them even more to succeed - at their own pace. It might not resurrect Kennedy's Camelot, but it sure would point in the right direction.
