Barack

There was an interesting bellwether in the campaign season: this Sunday’s “Prickly City”. Remember, this is a strip usually labeled as one of the batch of strips supported as a conservative alternative to Doonesbury (although more creative than the other entries in this category), and it seems obvious that the cartoonist is making a personal statement here. Just one man’s opinion (and a cartoonist, to boot), but it does make a statement.
Lately, I’ve been listening to the audiobook of Senator Obama’s book. No, not The Audacity of Hope, his earlier volume Dreams from My Father, about his family and background. The man had impressed me before with his speeches, but I find this book makes me more impressed… not merely because it’s an interesting thing to listen to, but because it exists at all. This book is from 1995, before he was involved in politics. Most books from politicians come across as blatant attempts to court voters, and are likely written mostly by folks besides their “authors”. That Obama wrote a book at all, and a serious and considered book at that, speaks well to me.
I’m not saying that there aren’t reasonable questions about his level of experience and his ability to make effective use of the Oval Office, even questions of his policies once he gets passed some well-intentioned generalities… but so far, I’ve seen a number of reasons to believe I’d like this guy, and no reason to assume I wouldn’t.

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