Eye On America | Electibility important question for one popular candidate

Ross Weingarten Opinions Editor

Around Washington, D.C., one name seems to be on everyone’s lips: Barack. I don’t have to tell you that I am talking about Barack Obama, the Illinois senator who has made it clear that he is primed for a run at the Democratic presidential nomination. In the nation’s capital, he is all the rage. Obama is charismatic, well-spoken, good-looking, and perhaps best of all, he came to the Senate after the vote on the Iraq war, meaning he did not have to face the dilemma of voting with or against President Bush in 2003. This immediately gives him a leg up on perhaps his biggest rival, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York.

Obama is the chic choice to move into the White House in 2008. His popularity has not been lost on the youth, as a global Facebook group promoting his candidacy has more than 175,000 members. Skeptics say that he is too inexperienced to be president, but in 1992, a young Arkansas governor came out of nowhere to win the presidency, and most agree that the Clinton years were a success. Even George W. Bush was seen as having too light a paper trail to assume power, yet he still defeated Al Gore in 2000 (sort of).

Others point to the fact that Obama is partially African-American as a reason why he will never be elected president of the United States. While it is sad to admit, there is little question that a percentage of the American population does not want a black president. However, I also believe that a much larger percentage thinks, consciously or not, that a black president can help rid our national consciousness of a portion of its guilt. Electing Obama will prove to many Americans that this country has put our racial prejudices behind us, and for many, that is a burden that we would love to see off our backs.

I don’t think that experience or race will prevent Obama from ascending to our nation’s highest political post, but ironically, there are two things that might hurt his chances that are perhaps even more outrageous. The first is his middle name, Hussein. The question remains whether much of America’s population can vote for a candidate with such a loaded middle name. Even though much has changed in the past months, the fact is that Sept. 11 is fresh in America’s memory, and Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s former dictator, is still seen as part of the problem. Can Americans get past Obama’s moniker? The answer should be yes, but remains unclear.

The second issue is Obama’s admitted drug use in his memoir, Dreams from My Father. It is true that other political figures have admitted drug use in their pasts (do the words “I did not inhale” ring a bell?), but Obama made his front-and-center by publishing it for all the world to see. He hasn’t been hurt politically by this yet, but America is one of the most conservative countries in the western hemisphere, and by some estimates, evangelical Christians make up one-third of the population. It is certainly possible that voters will think that admitting experimental drug use personalizes and humanizes Obama. But others will say that this does not make him presidential material.

There is no doubt that Obama’s middle name and his indiscretions as a youth are concerns as he makes his way toward 2008. And in some ways, this is a pathetic insight into American politics. How can it be that a name, something over which Obama has no control, and a few mistakes decades ago can stand as serious roadblocks to the White House? Politics should matter most, but apparently they do not. Obama is not the only candidate that suffers from this stigma. Clinton’s opponents point to her curious relationship with her husband, former president Bill Clinton, and her handling of his very public affair, as proof that she cannot be president. And how do you think the American public will feel about former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani’s three marriages?

While around the country, people are jumping on the Obama bandwagon, his path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is littered with obstacles. The question will be whether or not America’s population can get past an unfortunate middle name and some illegal experimentation, and allow a very qualified politician the chance to right our nation’s sinking ship.

I believe that Obama is a great candidate for this country. He is unapologetically anti-war, and there is litte question that for America to salvage any last bit of credibility in Iraq and beyond, the end of our military involvement has to move into sight. Furthermore, Obama has an uncanny ability to talk about his faith and his past that his Democratic rivals do not. Unfortunately, there may be too much working against him. If the choice becomes Obama or John Edwards, a relatively straight-laced former senator from North Carolina who rivals Obama in charisma and star-power, or Arizona Senator John McCain, the former war-hero from Vietnam, Americans might choose the candidate not named Hussein and without the “wild and experimental” youth. That would be a shame.