I am not a Barack Obama fan.

Really, the man annoys me.

Barack Obama is a politician. He’s a very smart politician. But he’s still a politician. And just like every other politician who runs for office, he’s going to do whatever he has to—within reason (unless he’s sure he won’t get caught, of course)—to win an election. He has convinced the cattle we call the American public that he is a different kind of politician. That he will bring about a different kind of leadership, a different kind of politics to this country.

I call bullshit.

He wants to get elected (duh), and he and his team are incredibly smart. They know the majority of Americans are so sick of what’s been going on in Washington (and their local capitols, for that matter), that they will respond strongly to a call for change, a call for a different kind of Washington.

Frankly, it reminds me of Karl Rove. Observe and analyze the public until you understand them well enough to manipulate their emotions. Create a campaign that appeals to those emotions. And voila—you win. It’s very smart (have I mentioned that yet?). And for this reason, I will not be terribly upset if Obama gets the nomination. I do believe he has the best of intentions for this country, and we agree on most some of the issues.

But I strongly dislike how he has portrayed himself as so different from “the norm” in the field.

With Hillary, I know exactly what I’m going to get. I like her (a lot, actually), but I don’t really trust her. I don’t really trust anyone in public office, period. And I don’t need to. Which is fortunate, ’cause it ain’t never gonna happen.

What I do need is to look at the candidates’ histories, look at their abilities, and consider how they’ll lead and how they’ll represent this country to the world. And I’m totally convinced that Hillary is the person for the job. She’s absolutely the most capable. She has the experience (nationally and internationally), the chutzpah, and the international respect to change this country’s position in the world—that is, to repair the damage done by Bush.

And though both Hillary and Obama bring up Jesus (everybody’s favorite when namedropping) when it suits them, Obama is so much more sincere about his Jesus-love and he uses it so much more frequently, wearing his Christianity on his sleeve. I’m not particularly fond of Jesus-lovers. Especially in the White House; we’ve had enough of that already. Hillary has the Jesus-love, she shows it, she uses it, and then she puts it away. I much prefer that. Put that shit back in the closet where it belongs. Jesus has no place in politics anyway.

Obama may command a room of emotional, needy Americans. But I don’t think he’s capable of commanding the international presence necessary for the president of the United States. And I don’t think any one person is capable of bringing about the Washington change he’s campaigning on. So I’m pissed that he’s promising. It makes me trust him even less than Hillary and the other politicians.

Maybe I’m too cynical. But I’m convinced Barack Obama is the most dangerous kind of politician: the kind who manipulates you into thinking he’s not really a politician at all.