The Chosen One

In the last two weeks, there's been tons and tons of ink spilled all the way from DC to New Hampshire, to Chicago. Barack Obama, the subject of endless bloviating by both left and right pundits. Is he going to run for the Presidency? Will he win? No he won't. Why not?....On the other hand maybe he will win. Why? ..... Hillary will destroy him. And if by a miracle he does survive, the right-wing is loading up their cannons to take him down. And oh yes..Those big ears. It's a viral epidemic on the blogs about Obama's ears.

Newsweek even has a few polls and stats to back up their point of view. They spout the Bradley effect and what not, to argue about whether white male voters will, in fact, vote for Obama. Ok. All right. Here's my suggestion to all the bloviators. Take a step back. Close your eyes. Head back a little in time and go over to Chicago, Illinois. What happened? Both his primary opponent and his Republican opponent in the general election went belly-up and threw out a red-carpet for Obama to walk over from Chicago to Washington. Then he goes to the Democratic convention in 2004 and suddenly the next day the whole world knows who Barack Obama is. In 2006, he goes to New Hampshire for the first time and a roomful of hardboiled political operatives swoon over him.

The sea is being parted to allow Obama to pass. Name one senate campaign where a challenger wins without a struggle. It doesn't happen. Yet it happened - For Obama. Now there were at least half a dozen candidates on the Democratic side vying for the nomination. Obama decides he wants to take a crack, and what happens? Kerry shoots off his mouth, Mark Warner cites family and withdraws, Evan Bayh throws in the towel, Russ Feingold says he's happier in the Senate, Al Gore simply dissapeared out of the picture, which leaves Hillary against Obama. And believe me, it will be the last man standing. Not the last woman. On the other side, just in time for Obama's candidacy, after twelve years in power, the Republicans self-destruct, lose both the Senate and the House and are in for one more massive thumpin in 2008. So Obama won't be counting chads in Florida or checking the exit polls in Ohio.

In case you think I'm batty, think about this. The Presidency chooses the President. John McCain can change his colors as many times as he wants, and Al Gore could become one of the most respected statesmen in the world, but one thing they will never be, is President of the U.S.A. If you take a straw poll today asking people to choose a candidate between George Bush, John McCain and Al Gore, how many people do you think would vote for Bush? Even his own father would probably vote for McCain. That, however, does not change the fact that George Bush is the President. What I'm trying to say here, is that, Barack Obama is going to be the President, regardless of any pros or cons, not because he wants to be one, or because he's capable of being one, but because he's been chosen by the Presidency to be the next one.