Andrew Sullivan is at it again, defending his man Obama against the forces of left and right.
Sullivan is half-in-the-bag (or more) for his preferred candidate and is thus (perhaps) blind to the import of some of Obama’s more calculating (and cynical) moves. That said, I cannot pretend I have not had thoughts similar to Sullivan’s.
Now that my initial revulsion to the resurfacing of “politics as usual” has subsided — trumped, as it was, by a final resignation to the firm belief that such politics are what they are and always will be — I have started to reconsider Obama, through a lense that is (I think) more honest and true.
Have I not long wished for a candidate that is comfortable embracing the center? Have I not hoped for a candidate who can navigate, with an open, flexible, deft approach, the manic mind of the American electorate? “Yes” and “yes” are the answers — and Obama increasingly seems willing and capable of doing just that.
None of this should suggest I’m sour on McCain; to the contrary, I think he deserves more credit as a flexible, pragmatic candidate than Sullivan and others seem willing to give him. But it does suggest I’m back where I started, seriously torn between these candidates, undecided about which of them I will cast my vote for, once I finally face the blank stare of the ballot in November.
I’m OK with that, though I realize others are not. So be it.