Obamamania

Imagine having an American president with roots in three continents, including Asia and Africa. Someone who is an outstanding speaker, and highly educated. Barack Obama lived in Indonesia from the age of six to ten, and his father is from Kenya. He graduated from Harvard Law School.

Despite these strong positives, I have yet to catch "Obamamania."

Instead, I am still rooting for John Edwards. Edwards strikes me as the guy who really means it when he says he's not going to let corporations dictate his priorities as president. He names the culprits: drug companies, media conglomerates, the military industrial complex. How sensible. In the debate the other night he put "elimination of nuclear weapons" as his objective. How sane.

On the personal side, I believe Edwards when he says the loss of his son motivated him to do something meaningful with his life. A former trial lawyer, Edwards does not seem to give a hoot if some very powerful people despise him. He does not need to be liked.

Whereas Edwards spells out what he's for and who he is against, the other candidates seem to talk in platitudes. To me, the height of banality is Barack Obama's slogan: "I'm a uniter not a divider." This line irritates me. I think America's biggest problems boil down to corporate excess, not disunity. Does it matter whether the American People are "united," so long as justice and liberty are defended? I think not. And I think that you arrive at the first by way of the second. And I believe unity built around adoration of a superstar -- the only tangible promise of Obamamania -- is likely to prove a fickle thing.

While there's plenty to admire about Barack Obama, I think John Edwards is making the better case as to why he should be president.