Earlier this year, I attended a handful of rallies for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama. Talking with other participants made it clear that few of them could agree on the specifics of this change.
Some interpreted change as pulling the troops out of Iraq immediately, others as committing to renewable energy 100 percent. And still others spoke of changing our health care system into one that every other industrialized nation takes for granted. Anyone who has listened carefully to Obama knows his proposals are much more timid than those of his fervent supporters.
Many Americans want their nation to embrace ideals in step with its global partners but hesitate to grab onto Obama's coattails. Americans can tell the difference between self-serving glorification and a humble resolve.
Obama is walking a fine line between the two.
It would behoove the Obama campaign to be reminded that a charismatic executive is a wonderful thing but only when paired with a commitment to addressing specific national concerns. Despite its contagious passion, the Obama campaign must wake up to the negative consequences of steamrolling others into an unhealthy, un-American obsession with championing the ambitions of one man. The proper response to a president who has taken more liberties than the Constitution allows would be for a majority to agree on what it wants and to empower every representative to take action.
However, finding a better man and rushing to crown him instead causes this nation's carefully constructed democracy to unravel even further.
An entire generation of new voters is likely to sit back down when it realizes that, instead of marching forward together to reclaim and repair the nation, its great hope is just another politician.
Michael Belle is a second-year political-science graduate student.
