Barack Obama’s on Our Side – But is He a Fighter?

Both of these people are leftists who wouldn’t say such kind words about Obama if they felt that a familiar politician had sold out after reaching the national stage. They’re answering a question that many progressives have about a politician who was unknown less than three years ago – who really is Barack Obama?

As we look ahead to the 2008 Presidential election, Obama is the fresh face that everyone is excited about. He gives us hope, even if we don’t really know much about what he stands for. As he plans to announce his candidacy on Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday, liberals are eager to know more about the guy to see if he’s the candidate to get behind – given the frightening prospect of a Hillary Clinton nomination.

Obama’s new book, “The Audacity of Hope,” offers some insights about who he really is – but I can’t say that I felt either assured or dejected after reading it. If you look beyond the optimistic and eloquent rhetoric that makes it an uplifting book to read, it’s still hard to determine whether Obama would be a visionary President like FDR who moves the country decidedly to the left – or just another Bill Clinton who will sell out for the sake of expediency.

I grew up in Chicago, and actually lived three doors down from Barack Obama – right when he was kicking off his political career with a run for the Illinois State Senate. I never knew him all that well, but I remember him as a staunch progressive who echoed the spirit of the late Mayor Harold Washington.

When he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004, I fully expected him to be the next Paul Wellstone and was excited to support him when he was the underdog in a crowded primary. When I attended the Democratic National Convention in Boston, I made sure to get a floor pass on the night where he gave his historic keynote address that catapulted him into the national limelight.

But Obama’s record in the Senate has been a mixed bag for many progressives, and has surprisingly been more moderate than his Illinois colleague, Dick Durbin. He voted to confirm Condoleeza Rice for Secretary of State and supported the 2005 Class Action legislation.

He’s been a good vote against George Bush’s Iraq policy and for withdrawal, but we haven’t heard the sense of moral outrage from him that so many of us feel on a daily basis. And if you go to websites like Daily Kos, it won’t be long before you find leftists grumbling about how Obama spends his time lecturing progressives for being too harsh and too partisan in their dismay at Republicans and conservative Democrats.

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