To Edify, or Not to Edify...That is the Question

Barack has to think about while he's on holiday in Hawaii.

Thus far he has--almost alone among all the candidates of both parties--run a campaign whose centerpiece has been discussion of issues, with occasional diversions into trivia spurred by the need to parry the flurry of ad hominem attacks thrown his way by his opponents.

His over-arching theme is Change, with a sub-text of Difference.

To many, his words are magic: beautifully crafted speeches, delivered with intellectual passion, implicitly evincing respect for his audience. His discourse, both in form and content, simultaneously elevates and edifies.

He hasn't dumbed-down his rhetoric, as have his opponents, in some cynical ploy to get the Average Joe's and Jane's to think he's one of them. Rather, he talks to them as if they were one of him: intelligent, concerned citizens capable of understanding issues and making appropriate judgments thereon.

This strategy has brought Obama within one step of the Presidency. It has defeated all comers, including Hillary Rodman Clinton and the formidable and ferocious political machine she inherited from her husband.

As the Contest enters its final phase, Obama is once again confronted by an Adversary hell-bent on transforming the election process into nothing but a pissing contest. The Adversary had no choice but to do this. Otherwise, if he ran an issue-oriented campaign, he, the Adversary, would be in the eternal position of defending the indefensible, namely, the track record of the Bush Administration writ large....a losing proposition for anyone.

Barack Obama did not become who he is by grounding his life on jealously, resentment, pettiness and cynicism.

If he decides--which he won't!--to follow his Adversary down the path of ignominy, not only will Obama lose the election, he will have lost himself.