Failing Hope

Last week I reacted to Senator Barack Obama's appearance on The Daily Show by noting that his "seems to be too much of a faith-based campaign for me: you simply have to have faith that Senator Obama will do the best job of all the candidates."

Today brings us a new column from The New York Times' freshly-vacationed Maureen Dowd, in which she writes:

"Actually, the only thing we regard as a symptom of a lack of experience is a lack of experience. This pundit, for one, needs hope as much as any American these days. But the only time I roll my eyes is when my hope is dashed that Obama will boldly take on Hillary, making his campaign more than cameras and mirrors and magazine covers."

Indeed. I've been down my own road of hope with Senator Obama, but it has left me nearly hopeless. Now, my faith in any campaign has shifted back to the unknown and unknowable -- to the hope that a candidate I cannot now name will break free of the pack at the last minute and present a viable alternative to Senator Hillary Clinton, and do so while providing more of the specifics I need to hear about how s/he will actually govern.