The Candidate of Change

Great leaders are active thinkers and adapters. They lead the path of human innovation and spark social and intellectual movements though out time. Now in our nation’s history is a time where those qualities are needed now more then ever. And with the helm of the free world up for grabs a neo-American “King Arthur” must be crowned. But who is most suited for the job, both in potential and experience? In today’s age of instant access to unlimited information a candidate’s entire being is on call, and over the past month the scrutiny has been raining down on Barack Obama from both party’s. Some Americans, including his own campaign representatives, refer to Barack Obama as the “Candidate of Change”; the one who’s going to rattle the walls in Washington and set the current administration on its backside, but is he really the candidate of change? Certain “journo-politico” would beg to differ.

Robert J. Samuelson of Newsweek is one of those journalists. Unwavered by Barack Obama’s enthralling speak of change or his promise of a total redux of Washington. In Samuelson’s article, “The Obama Delusion”, he presents strong arguments suggesting Obama is a fledgling lacking the experience and savvy demeanor his opponents flaunt. But under his fluffy “goody-bag politics” rhetoric, as Samuelson puts it, his polices remain strongly partisan, and virtually carbon copy to that of Hillary Clinton. So much so that the Clinton camp has accused Obama of plagiarizing policy from her official position of policies. “Newcomer Obama is largely a stage presence defined mostly by his powerful rhetoric. The trouble, at least for me, is the huge and deceptive gap between his captivating oratory and his actual views.“ says Samuelson. “If you examine his agenda, it is completely ordinary, highly partisan, not candid and mostly unresponsive to many pressing national problems. By Obama's own moral standards, Obama fails.“ (Samuelson)

Samuelson uses logos and pathos to back up his argument that Obama is illogical and inexperienced by playing into his self contradiction and lack of time served in government office. This strong view of Obama’s candidacy has been beating the camp’s door down as of late. However, the view of this journalist and the many others who agree with his logic is not shared by all, not by a long shot. Even though Samuelson holds Obama under the high scrutiny amongst all the candidates, he also highlights how genuinely moving his person can become, using high levels of ethos in the subjects of race relations and heath care to play into the emotions of a very emotionally influenced and currently divided nation.

Highlighted in “Kennedy Chooses Obama, Spurning Plea by Clintons.” an article in the New York Times by Jeff Zeleny and Carl Hulse, On January 28th, 2008 following a public appeal on Mr. Obama’s behalf by Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy publicly endorsed Barack Obama, stating he finds his seeming ability to inspire political interest in a new generation quite intriguing and just what the country need to push it in the right direction for the future.

Their article focuses on how this move by Kennedy is seen as unexpected and risky by political analysts and reporters alike, primarily because this pits leading members of the nation’s most prominent Democratic families against one another as Sen. Kennedy was once in very close association with the Clinton family. So much so that an unspoken agreement of loyalty within partisanship as believed to of been established. But for Sen. Kennedy it’s a little more bare bones politics then it is bureaucratic partisanship. And now the bond has been broken as Mr. Kennedy, a major figure in party politics for more than 40 years, intends to campaign aggressively for Mr. Obama, beginning with an appearance and rally with him in Washington on Monday. “I want to see who out there is going to be able to inspire not only our party, but others, because I think we’re going to need the inspiration in order to bring a change in American foreign policy and domestic policy,” (Zeleny) said Kennedy.