As I think is true for many readers here, I am incredibly impressed with Sen. Obama's position on the war in Iraq. While not an absolute dealbreaker for me, strong opposition to the republican's war in Iraq was a major consideration for me. This led me to support Obama last year.
Because the current administration has been so so blatantly dishonest, and Barack seemed so willing to tell the truth, to tell it honestly, I valued his candor.
Because it seemed to me that, in clear contrast to so many politicians on both sides of the aisle, he had "gotten it right" when others did not, I valued his foresight and judgment.
Because I believed, as Barack said, that our problems are too great to be worried about the smallness of our politics, I valued his willingness to pursue bipartisanship.
Unfortunately, these same characteristics are the reason Sen. Obama won't end the war right away. Allow me to explain...
I believe that Obama is fundamentally a decent man. He has been pretty completely forthright and honest about everything in this campaign so far, and I have no reason to doubt that he will behave this same way when in office. This leads me to believe that, when he says he wants to be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless going in, he means it.
I think Barack sincerely wants to end the war, but, more than that, he feels an inner commitment to do what is right. When he sits in the Oval Office for the first time, I have a feeling that the gravity of the office will hit him. When the Joint Chiefs brief him for the first time, they're going to tell him to give the war more time. That things are improving and progress is being made. And he is going to feel a great tug to agree.
Democratic Presidents of the modern era face enormous pressure to appear hawkish as it is. JFK had the Bay of Pigs. LBJ struggled to maintain a domestic agenda with Vietnam. Clinton has Kosovo. The one exception, Carter, paid for being a dove by being regarded as one of the weakest Presidents in history.
While I think Barack Obama will make a great President, he is not campaigning to become the great liberal president. He is campaigning to become the authentic president, the consider-all-sides president, the American president. And when I see America's perception doing this, I can't help but think that Obama will see the same.