Obama fails to shed celebrity skin

Barack Obama took very little time accepting the Democratic presidential nomination in his Thursday night speech, but slowly meandered into his campaign platform no less than 16 minutes later.

On the blue-lit stage similar to a fashion show catwalk, Obama appeared like a Grecian actor wooing his audience with every emotional appeal thinkable. He spoke of the American promise threatened by the Bush administration and its "broken policies." He revealed McCain's "unmaverick" voting record of siding 90% of the time with Bush within the Senate and how the Arizona senator referred to America as a "nation of whiners."

"It's not because John McCain doesn't care," Obama said, "It's because John McCain doesn't get it."

But Obama's use of the historic night for political gain only proved that he was not fully aware of what is happening himself. Though he mentioned John F. Kennedy within the final five minutes of his speech, his interpretation of the American dream differed greatly from the infamous "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" address.

"Each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we want, but that we also have obligations to treat each other with dignity and respect," Obama said to his crowd--those on Invesco Field and through cable to those at home--of more than 38 million, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Obama used layman's terms when addressing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Langston Hughes' "Dream Deferred" near his close as well, although his dream for American oil independence called for his signature rhetoric--an oozing sore ripe for McCain's picking.

Obama stated that as president, he would create an America independent from oil within 10 years--a farfetched proposal using clean coal and tapping into natural gas reserves as building blocks for the blueprints--allotting $150 billion for the program. According to NaturalGas.org, natural gas is an abundant yet non-renewable energy source that would require even more drilling into the American terrain--an idea far from the normally "more earthy" Democratic platform.

Obama also said that he would "cut taxes for 95% of all working families" to restore dignity to the middle class. How would this affect pooling $150 billion for an oil-free America while staying submerged under the $300 billion federal deficit reported by the Christian Science Monitor?

While Obama continues to dream of an American utopia, he must not allow his dream to "explode" all over his empty suit.