As a Canadian observer of the current campaign for the American presidency, I am struck by the obsessive, daily examination of everything that Obama says or doesn't say, or does or doesn't do by the media, especially Slate and CNN, and, in turn, by those who post in discussion groups like the Fray. There is no attempt to evaluate what is important to discuss and what isn't. Everything is fair game, so the "fist-bump" of the Obamas is as important as Obama's decision to withdraw all American troops from Iraq within 16 months. In addition, the media and the electorate are using Obama compulsively as a screen to project all kinds of irrational fears and beliefs on the man. I watched Obama on a daily basis on CNN when he ran against Hillary Clinton to become the presumptive Democratic nominee. To me, what you see is what you get. Obama is highly intelligent, very sophisticated guy who had an idealistic, white American mother and a Black Kenyan father. He's a guy who was raised in multi-ethnic Hawaii and lived for a time in Muslim Indonesia, who moved to America which he obviously loves and worked his way toward a law degree at Harvard. He then moved to Chicago to become a community organizer. His thoughts, feelings and opinions have been an open book for years. He has written 2 biographies in which he openly discusses his struggles as a mixed-race child. He has obviously done more introspection than most of us. Moreoever, his speeches are thoughtful, eloquent and, often very moving. I don't think that he's a "slick Willie", Machievellian, a radical or a Marxist. In fact, he adheres to many commonly-held beliefs of Americans: he's a Christian, he's for the death penalty for the most heinous of crimes, he supports the right to bear arms etc. He also advocates universal health care which is long overdo in the US, investment in new technolgies for alternatives to fossil fuels etc. I don't think Barack Obama is scary at all. I attribute the mounting hysteria about him to the increasing fears about the tanking of the American economy. This, Obama has become a screen for all manner of American fears, obsessions and compulsions. One need only read the current discussion of the New Yorker cartoon in the Fray to see that! Too bad! If you guys blow this election and elect McCain, you will lose a great opportunity to turn the US around both within and internationally. Obama is de man!