Kyle Bell

There has been a lot of talk about how the media fell in love with Barack Obama. Forget that they loved George Bush in 2000 and 2004 (and hated both Al Gore and John Kerry). Forget that they continue to love John McCain and even in mainstream reporting from respected organizations frequently call him a “maverick” (for which he is not, especially when it comes to the war). Barack Obama and the media are in bed together, so they say.

If the media were ever in love with Barack Obama, they fell out of love with him awfully quickly. And like a person who abruptly leaves a relationship, they overcompensated for the stories of how fantastic a lover they were when they were together. He’s fat, he’s ugly, he’s lazy, he’s bald, he’s impotent.

In Obama’s case, he’s inexperienced (which is grossly exaggerated), he’s corrupt (Rezko), he’s racist (his pastor), he’s – oh my – a politician! All things that they knew about when they were “in bed” with him – and had ready access to long before he announced his bid for president – but are only being gossiped about heavily now that they have “broken up” with each other. You get the picture.

Let’s keep things in perspective. Barack Obama was elected to the United States Senate in 2004. By the time he becomes president, he will have served four years in the Senate. He was a state senator in Illinois for seven years. That’s eleven (11) years of public service. Prior to elected office he was a community organizer, Constitutional law professor (wouldn’t it be nice to have a president who understands the Constitution?), and a civil rights attorney.

George W. Bush was given a pass in 2000 for his inexperience. He was the governor of Texas for five (5) years. Barack Obama will have twice the experience of elected office when he becomes president when compared to that George W. Bush. If you don’t like George Bush as a comparison, how about the iconic Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt? President Roosevelt only served three (3) years as governor of New York before becoming president. He is widely regarded as one of the best.

The case that Hillary Clinton tries to make is that she is the experienced candidate and Barack Obama is not. The media plays into this theme constantly. She compares Barack Obama to George W. Bush in terms of experience. The truth is that it is Hillary Clinton who is more like George W. Bush when it comes to the issue of experience.

Hillary Clinton, if elected, will have served eight (8) years as a Senator from New York. What other elected office has she held? She hasn’t. She claims experience through osmosis. Her resume is Bill’s resume. She claims that being First Lady for eight years makes her fit for the job. She takes claim to programs such as S-CHIP, health insurance for kids approved in the 90s. Yet the lawmakers involved say she had nothing to do with its language or passage. She claims to be ready for a crisis at 3 a.m. when in fact she had no security clearance as First Lady and sat in on no meetings with regards to national security.

What she can claim experience to is a failed attempt to overhaul our healthcare system. She can also claim the experience of being on the corporate board of Wal-Mart and other corporate businesses. She has the experience of being the first Democrat to publicly denounce the likely nominee of the Democratic Party since Zell Miller blasted John Kerry in 2004 by saying, “no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two Senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.” By saying that she and John McCain are ready to be Commander-in-Chief, but Barack Obama is not, she undermines our party’s chances in the fall and only proves that she is as selfish and calculated as many people presumed before this process started.

This is not the way Democrats want our elections to be. You can not decry the tactics of Bush, Cheney and Rove, only to use the same tactics. The politics of fear, the politics of whatever-it-takes-to-win, the politics of deception and division… these are all things that voters are sick and tired of. They may work, but it is not the way that elections should be won.

Barack Obama started this campaign as an agent of change. He has run his campaign in a way that we have not seen in many, many years. He does not disparage his opponents or belittle his supporters as coming from too small, too black or too Republican of a state. He has raised tens of millions of dollars from small donors. He does not take money from lobbyists or PACs. He seeks to bring about a radical change in our politics, inspiring young, middle age and young at heart. If that is not a politician to fall in love with, I do not know what is.