Obama Is Just Another Chicago Politician

The Politico is another one of those "must reads" for political groupies and pundits, remaining remarkably non-partisan and fair. The journalists at Politico call them as they see them, and it's quite refreshing.

Along those lines, they have two interesting articles up this morning - the first is by Jonathan Martin, McCain, GOP unleash anti-Obama plan. Martin reports on the Right's strategy against Barack Obama that's emerged over the past few weeks (months, actually), namely:

...Paint Obama as conventional politician who always takes the safe and easy political road, then amplify the distinction by framing McCain as a patriot, somebody who has put sacrifice above self.

It's not difficult to determine why John McCain and the GOP has decided on this strategy - Obama handed it to them on a silver platter. And that's the premise behind the next article in Politico by Kenneth Vogel, Obama: Change agent goes conventional:

Barack Obama has crafted an image as an unconventional candidate, a change agent and a post-partisan politician who represents a dramatic break from the status quo. But since securing the Democratic presidential nomination, when confronted with a series of thorny issues the Illinois senator has pursued a conspicuously conventional path, one that falls far short of his soaring rhetoric.

Faced with tough choices on fronts ranging from public financing and town hall meetings to warrantless surveillance and the Second Amendment, Obama passed up opportunities to take bold stands and make striking departures from customary politics. Instead, he has followed a familiar tack, straddling controversial issues and choosing politically advantageous routes that will ensure his campaign a cash edge and minimize damaging blowback on several highly sensitive issues.

We were all taken in (at least I was) by Barack Obama's early portrayal of himself as a different kind of politician - the first post-partisan post-racial candidate. But as the months went along, it became painfully apparent that it was only a highly crafted image that we saw and heard, not the real thing.

The longer the campaign goes on, the more Obama looks like any other Chicago politician, with all the attendant baggage. And that is the saddest development of this campaign season so far.