WORDS TO WISE SHOULD SUFFICE...re Obama

In the February, 2007, issue  of Z Magazine, Paul Street has some
sage advice for us voters: don't judge the contents by its packaging. Barack Obama is encased in a very attractive carton at the political supermarket. You must open it for a full accounting of value; buying a glitzy but
unfamiliar product can be risky to a family's shrinking disposable income in  our tight economy.

Paul Street warns that less than a year into his U.S. Senate win, Obama sought to parlay an inspiring keynote address at 2004's Democratic Convention into a sprint for the roses--known in political circles as
a White House residency.

Obama did the requisite high-impact rounds of TV shows.   Beginning November, '05,  he graced "The Tonight Show," "Meet the Press," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," as well as being featured on top slicks' covers--Men's Vogue, Marie Claire, Time, Vanity Fair, Washington Life.  He wooed the religious right, appeared in Iowa, a premier caucus state, and penned

a lofty paean to himself entitled,  The Audacity of Hope.  Paul Street desrcibes the book to whit: {a book}"...that fairly screamed presidential ambition beneath false humility and ponderous power-worshiping prose. He received the praise, money, positive media attention, and public recognition
that a serious presidential run requires."

Street further informs us that Ken Silverstein's analysis of Obama's fortunes in the November, 2006, issue of Harper's Magazine is less than lauditory.
His piece, "Barack Obama Inc.: Birth of a Washington Machine," exposes the presidential hopeful's worldly side. Silverstein wrote, "Big donors would not
be helping out Obama if they didn't see him as a 'player'...What's the dollar value of a starry-eyed idealist?"

The Paul Street expose is deep background on a candidate who has

managed to escape serious vetting generally by the mainstream media.

Street quotes David Sirota in his essay.  Sirota's points distill in a few

sentences, the Obama mystique--a unique blend of "the abillity to mix charisma and deference to the establishment"--a reason..."that publications and think tanks have heaped praise on Obama and want him to run for President." And in he same piece, Sirota--described as a populist and independent thinker by fellow journalists such as the late, great Molly Ivins-- observed in 2006, "Obama is interested in fighting only for those changes that fit within the existing boundaries of what's considered mainstream in Washington instead of using his platform to redefine those boundaries."

Sirota's statement is a fairly serious indictment of Obama's hollow

program for change and is echoed by many political writers, including

some Black journalists who called his stand on the Iraq War "mushy-mouthed."  To get the full picture, read the Z Magazine essay by

Paul Street online.

To summarize, shall we simply point out that Barack Obama's carefully-marketed persona should be scrutinized for possible product tampering? Candidly speaking, what you buy isn't necessarily what you get in a political transaction.

Paul Street is an urban social policy researcher in Iowa.  He is an independent writer, speaker and historian, well-versed in social politics.  He should  know a little about the former Illinois legislator and current senator from the state, Barack Obama.