Who is Obama?

Today, President-Elect Obama did something that ticked off the extremes of both parties, by inviting Pastor Rick Warren to do the Invocation at the Inauguration. The homosexuals are ticked because Rick Warren is a Yes on 8 minister from CA. The Right Wing Christians are ticked at Warren, because he is playing a major part in Obama's big day.

I think both are too worried. This is a good move on Obama's part to get one of the most respected Pastor's in the country involved, for Rick Warren it shows respect for his acheivements, and potentially shows that Obama is not as left wing as many (includig me) expected him to be.

The issue for me now is who is the real Obama? Conservatives are scared of Obama's past, Liberals are excited that the evil Bush is leaving the scene, but how is Obama going to keep all of his campaign promises? And maybe, more importantly, how can he keep them all as they are contradictory? Supposedly, Obama ran on a platform of change. Yet he surrounds himself with former Clinton cronies? Where is the change? Is the change running and acting like a liberal, but when he finally gets to the office, he becomes a moderate?

The thing is, Obama is a complex person, and like Clinton, my impression is that Obama wanted into the White House more than anything. The question now is, what is Obama's true vision? What is it that he really is going to do as President? Does he really think that he can succeed in Middle East peace, where no one in the past 60 years has been able to succeed? What does he see his legacy to be?

He is a chameleon, and he has adapted his colors and statements to win votes. He went way liberal to beat Hillary, but came back to the center afterwards. He hung with the communists and black power base in college, then ended up associated with Ayers and Jeremiah Wright during his political career. But I am starting to believe that all of these are people of convenience to help him in the moment. Maybe that explains why he is able to ditch them so easily when questioned about them.

So in the end, it seems like there is a distinct lack of principles, and he seems to do whatever it takes to get him to his goal. This leads me to think he has a certain level of ruthlessness and narcisism, but that is not unexpected in a polititician who wants to be President, the question now is why does he want to be President?

Now Rick Warren is going to be on Dateline this week...maybe he is the next Billy Graham? Maybe he is just Rick Warren...