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by Donald Moore

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An illusionist never really makes something disappear. He re-directs our attention just long enough so the object can be moved. By the time we are able to re-focus, it is too late! The lady in the box has vanished!

Barak Obama is an illusionist's trick. Only the paradox of this trick is to shift our focus so that we never look at him closely enough we would see that there is nothing to him that merits being made President of the United States. He is, after all, invisible. He just hopes you don't notice until after he moves into the White House.

Start to look closely at Obama and...

Presto! He is a civil rights leader. How so? What has he ever done to advance the cause of civil rights except be a recipient of the work of men before him? In fact, it could be argued that he hurt the cause of civil rights by derailing the candidacy of Alice Palmer, a true civil rights leader in Illinois, so that he could start his assent to power. Maybe that explains why Obama is running with very little support from many of the most recognizable black figures in the political landscape. Al Sharpton, for example, has warned Obama "not to take the black vote for granted." Jesse Jackson, dismayed at Obama's lack of support for the so-called Jena Six, demanded that the senator bolster "hope with substance."

But start looking too closely at his emptiness as a civil rights leader and...

Abracadabra! Barak is a foreign policy sage. Harry Truman once said that the work of a President is deciding. Voting against a war only tells us that he is willing to tell someone what not to do. But if elected, Obama will have to decide TO do about North Korea and Iran and China and on and on? It is a dangerous world and WE HAVE NO IDEA what principles he will use in making those decisions.

But start looking too closely at his emptiness as a foreign policy leader and...

Alakazam! Barak is a great domestic policy wonk. Will he really raise tax rates like he says? It is a sure as clockwork: "Raise taxes, recession follows!" Will he really have a government that is famous for mismanagement, inefficiency and corruption seize control of one seventh of our national economy by instituting universal health care? That sounds like he is a nice, compassion guy. But once done, we will realize, too late, the folly of it when we are waiting weeks and months to see doctors you don't get to choose ask bureaucrats we didn't know existed how to treat our disease.

But start looking too closely at his emptiness as a domestic policy leader and...

Hocus Pocus! He becomes a Cicero or Wm. Jennings Bryan. Ooh and aah because his words are beautiful. Well, beautiful words didn't work out so well that day in the Garden of Eden. Saying something good is far less important than having something good to say. Neville Chamberlain said something good when he promised "Peace in our time" after his summit with Hitler. Churchill had something good to say when he inspired the British to rise heroically in defense of the world. His mouth keep running and it sounds pretty but just what is Obama saying, anyway?

But start looking too closely at the emptiness of his words and ...

Well, eventually the act needs to come to an end. When you finally get tired of his slight of hand, you will see that he doesn't have anything up his sleeve after all. Look close. He's really invisible.

Learn more about this author, Donald Moore.

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