Shine Coming Off

Heretofore it has been conventional wisdom in conservative circles and within the political community in general that between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton would be the weaker Democrat in the general election. This indeed may be true, and there is ample reason to believe that it is, but the events of the past month have begun to tarnish the validity of that theory.

Until recently Sen. Obama’s self-constructed and purveyed image as a transcendental candidate and beacon of hope and unity in an otherwise sordid political age had gone largely unmolested. But alas, reality has begun to set in. His claim to be an unideological and post-partisan leader was betrayed by revelations from National Journal that he is the most doctrinaire liberal in the U.S. Senate. His new politics has been accosted by, among other things, the commencement of the trial of his former fundraiser Tony Rezko. Most damaging of all, his message of unity and hope was slapped across the face with the publicity of many, shall we say, impolitic remarks by his pastor and mentor with whom he has had an intimate relationship for two decades.

The shine has begun to come off and new questions have begun to surface regarding his viability as a candidate in the fall, questions which only add to those which most national Democrats have apparently been too disinterested to ask, namely those concerning Sen. Obama’s unsettling degree of inexperience.

The upshot of all of this is that it is clear that Sen. Obama is susceptible to a political fall of a kind greater than most candidates for President. He has billed himself as a figure that is tantamount to a political messiah, a lofty standard that is, at best, extremely difficult to live up to. Any stumbles, such as the multitude we have witnessed of late, and the whole facade could come crashing down. As Yuval Levin writes, for those voters who have flocked to him so far, “learning more about Obama will not only be disconcerting, it will be disillusioning, which is far worse. Obama’s trouble is not only that people know little about him, but also that much of what they know is not true.”

Sen. Obama has not built his candidacy on anything solid, such as a record or concrete principles and prescriptions, only on pleasant platitudes and catch phrases which are nothing more than empty bottles. Should Democrats nominate him they may very well be building their entire house on top of a vaporous myth, a myth which may very well evaporate in an election cycle they have no business losing. I by no means assert this is foreordained, only that it is a very real possibility.