Troy Senik sent this unsolicited article to RC... over one year ago! It is prophetic given it was written when a Hillary nomination was a foregone conclusion. Troy has since accepted a position as a speechwriter for President Bush.

Americans are a flirtatious lot. Every four years the nation is courted and beguiled by would-be presidents, each anxious to dance the courtly dance of vague pleasantries and compliments in the hopes of a deeper relationship. The odds of these unions tend to mirror their real-world counterparts rather closely. For every match made in heaven, be it a Roosevelt, a Kennedy or a Reagan, there are an equal number of partnerships that can't end soon enough for either party: a Nixon, a Carter, and perhaps even a Bush.

As the nation begins to embark on a new stag era, Illinois Senator Barack Obama's name has leapt to the front of the country's little black book. While names like McCain, Clinton and Giuliani may elicit a wistful glance once in a while, it's the anticipation of Obama's number that accompanies every cell phone ring.

So far, Barack has done everything right. He has swept us off our feet, reminded us of what we're capable of and made us believe in things (the possibility of unity, for example) that we never thought we'd believe in again. But it's time to hit the brakes on what has thus far been an uncritical infatuation.

Obama has mastered the art of whispering the sweet nothing. With graceful diction and a cadence befitting a Roman emperor, the sweetness is hard to miss. But the nothingness is important too. Americans need to realize that the charming dinner date will also eventually become the foot soldier responsible for washing dishes, mowing lawns and ensuring that long car trips don't devolve into murder-suicide pacts. Thus, it's time to see if there is any substance behind the pretty face and feather-light words of Barack Obama.

Though Obama shows every sign of possessing the same rhetorical gifts of Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, he has yet to weld this asset to any vision as grandiose as the New Deal, a global defense of freedom or an attempt to shrink the size of the federal government. If he truly wishes to inherit the national marriage covenant at one of the most significant hours in American history, then his solutions for the coming decade must be bolder than reducing the cost of Lipitor prescriptions.
Unfortunately, Obama's recent advocacy for the euphemistically-phrased "phased withdrawal" from Iraq betrays a tendency to shrink from such grandeur. As an evergreen opponent of the Iraq War, the Senator's advocacy does not come as a particular surprise, but it does represent a huge disappointment. One need not share in President Bush's diagnosis of either the case for the war or the necessary means for prosecuting it to comprehend the tremendous threats to American national security that would accompany a half-hearted finale to the saga of Iraq.

If Obama made a credible case for victory, he could simultaneously distinguish himself from the president on issues of competence and rally the Democratic Party back to its hawkish orientation during the pre-Vietnam era, thus eliminating the one remaining factor ensuring the party's difficulty in convincing the country that it represents a credible alternative to Republicans.

Moreover, his consistent record as an opponent of the war gives him the necessary credibility to finally unify the country in the realization that the war on terror is a reality regardless of party affiliation.

The greatest leaders match the grandest words with the grandest actions. Senator Obama now has that opportunity.