Obama Gets It

In the Las Vegas debate with Obama, Clinton, and Edwards, there was a question that really sticks out in my mind as a turning point in the campaign.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jan...ranscript/

Russert asked, "...quickly, your greatest strength, your greatest weakness." Obama went first with, "...my greatest weakness, I think, is when it comes to — I’ll give you a very good example. I ask my staff members not to hand me paper until two seconds before I need it because I will lose it.…And my desk and my office doesn’t look good. I’ve got to have somebody around me who is keeping track of that stuff." This is basically a "I'm not very organized" response.

Edwards goes next with, "I think weakness, I sometimes have a very powerful emotional response to pain that I see around me...And I feel that in a really personal way and in a very emotional way. And I think sometimes that can undermine what you need to do." Are you kidding me? My weakness is that I have an emotional response to pain I see around me? I WANT a President that has an emotional response to pain they see around them!

Clinton goes last with, "I get impatient. I get, you know, really frustrated when people don’t seem to understand that we can do so much more to help each other. Sometimes I come across that way. I admit that. I get very concerned about, you know, pushing further and faster than perhaps people are ready to go." Okay, this is the "I get frustrated when people around me don't want to work as hard as I do" response. Again...are you kidding me? Go....get frustrated...get mad...tell people around you to work harder....yell at them to help each other more. Go for it! get some!

Okay, the point of all this. After this brief exchange I thought to myself, "Okay, I get it. Obama is the honest candidate. He gave a really honest answer. His 'weakness' was actually a real weakness. He's not organized. Clinton just played the game.

After the debate I heard comments like, "It showed Obama's inexperience and that he's naive." Or things like, "This is Interviewing 101. Hasn't Obama ever been in a job interview? They always ask you your greatest weakness and you are supposed to turn it into a positive." Well, the way I saw it was he was being honest. I mean, it's that simple. He didn't play any games. He didn't try to spin it. He simply told the public about a weakness he has, honestly, just like he was asked to do. The other candidates? Business as usual. Washington as usual. We get it...say one thing while meaning another.

Obama is the straight shooter. He's the honest candidate. He's the future President that will listen to the People and give back honest answers, the facts as they are....the truth. That's what I took away from the Las Vegas debate.