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Obamarama Drama Now On Our Stage

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By STEVE OTTO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2008

Chutzpah is such a wonderful thing, especially if you are a politician, when your plate overflows with the stuff.

So here it is late May, almost four months after Florida Democrats went to the polls to vote for candidates who refused to campaign in this state. And if there is a state that reflects all of the issues of this country, a state deeply affected by economic and demographic winds, it is Florida.

What's even more depressing is that it is still more than five months before Election Day and the beginning of the off-year election campaigns.

Meanwhile, way down below, far below the talking heads and the high-blown rhetoric, down where the real people live, the streets are getting meaner. Floridians have not only taken a pounding, they have done it with state and local governments seemingly immobilized by budget cuts and corporate greed.

From a distance Floridians have watched and listened as candidates from the two major parties slogged across the country, tossing platitudes left and right and offering promises of change without getting too specific about what those changes might be or how they would come about. I can only figure they don't have a clue.

The Great Pontificator

The best of the platitude pontificators by far has been Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. His magic has been to present himself as the leader of a crusade for change. Florida Democrats didn't buy his spiel back in January. Of course he wasn't here to spin his promises, so it was understandable they might go with the more known quantities of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who also wasn't here.

Their party said it didn't really matter what Floridians thought or whom they voted for. They had no right to cut in line or to voice their opinions until further down the line, long after such decisions are usually made.

But things didn't go the way they were supposed to. Now, although Obama is the very likely choice going into June, he is already carrying so much baggage, the airlines are charging him extra to fly.

Playing The Crowd

So now, here he is this afternoon in Tampa. He is expected to draw a huge crowd to the St. Pete Times Forum. The sound system in that place has had its ups and downs, but it probably won't make that much difference. It's not what he says as much as how he says it.

I suppose there is always the remote chance he might define an issue and suggest what he would do. Education would be a good one here in Florida.

John McCain has said he plans on conferring with Jeb Bush about education issues. Yeah, the same Bush who joined with the Legislature in an attempt to destroy Florida's public school system. If Obama has any ideas about the public school system, now would be a good time to bring it up.

There are so many issues. What about trade issues? Why is it I go to a grocery store in Ruskin, the home of Florida tomatoes, and the tomatoes are from Chile? Maybe the senator could talk about that.

How is he going to pull off his health care ideas? In Florida, where insurance of any kind is a critical issue but health insurance is life or death, he might just want to bring that up.

But I suspect he won't, except to say that change is in the air.

Keyword: Otto Graphs, to read and comment on Steve Otto's blog.

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