For Sick Political Junkies Like Me

So how many of you knew former Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle announced he was not running for President last week? Unless you’re a totally obsessed political junkie like myself it probably escaped your attention.

However, Chris Cillizza who writes for the Washington Post blog, "The Fix," for political junkies like me reports Daschle’s announcement may be a lift for Barack Obama in 2008. According to Cillizza’s reporting, Daschle loyalists are experienced operatives and liberated to focus completely on Obama’s campaign. Apparently there are close ties between Obama’s inner circle and Tom Daschle. Obama is inexperienced in national politics and competing against the Hillary Clinton political machine is a tall order. Hence it is Cillizza's contention that Daschle's decision not to run may better enable Obama to construct an effective political operation of his own.

I acknowledge Obama’s charisma and compelling story but I’m still not ready to hop on the bandwagon. Our country is confronted with herculean challenges because of Bush's insipid rule. I need to know any Democrat I'm supporting is up to the job. Even so, as regular readers of this blog may recall, I wrote a hypothetical inauguration speech for Obama in October just to try him on for size. In attempting to write in Obama's voice I felt compelled to speak with religious overtones and that made me somewhat uncomfortable with him.