Slow Down

Over at Ezra's joint, there's a lively discussion going on in the comments section about a speech Barack Obama gave last week in New Hampshire (full admission: I chimed in as Mike P in the comments).

The main complaint I've seen in regards to Obama's remark is about what wasn't there, i.e. a list of concrete policy proposals. To me, this is much ado about nothing. People clamoring for big ideas at this moment need to take a step back and take a look around at the other hopefuls:


-While most Americans now favor getting out of Iraq, one of the Republican presidential hopefuls, John McCain, is talking about sending more troops to a futile conflict
-Another Republican presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, is being questioned for his shifting views of gay rights
-Joe Biden is out making an ass of himself
-Not much has been heard from Tom Vilsack since his announcement to seek the presidency
-Hillary Clinton continues to tease the media about her real intentions

Past that, we're still dealing with the fallout from the Iraq Study Group and the stage is being set for a new Congress to take office in January.

Why on God's green earth would Obama, who is not even officially in the race yet, tip his hand in regards to his policy ideas at this early date in the middle of all of this? By doing so, he would be painting a huge bulls-eye on his back that every declared or prospective candidate would hone in on with laser-like intensity. It's not worth it to go down that road at all at this point. The man is attracting huge crowds in the two major presidential primary states, Iowa and New Hampshire, and is making waves with his book tour and he hasn't had to spend his "political capital" (am I the only one who loathes that term?) in the least.

Again, I don't see why this is so hard for people to figure out. Obama is giving the people a taste of what's to come. Rather than saying there's a lot of sizzle but no steak, why don't wait and see what comes out of the kitchen?