Our Un-Enlightenment

Obama TV dominated the airwaves Wednesday night.

The Democrats’ presidential candidate listed his policies and ensured viewers “None of [his proposal] grows government. It grows the economy.”

The 30-minute infomercial was an unprecedented campaign tactic — at least I can’t remember anyone else ever doing such a thing. It reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies – “V for Vendetta.”

In the movie, England has been quarantined after the world’s deadliest virus breaks out and kills hundreds of thousands. The outbreak scrambles the government’s course of action mid-election, allowing a long-shot party and candidate to take the country’s reigns. However, this party relies on Nazi-esque policies to control its constituency, rather than represent them democratically.

Fed up with the ruling party’s stranglehold on the liberties of its people, a masked man who goes only by the name “V” attempts to reveal the public’s silent unrest through a series of more-than-controversial acts. He works against the fascist grains of the ruling party, and, naturally, is called a terrorist, even though all he really wants is for the people of England to have their freedoms and their integrity.

In one scene, “V” hijacks a major British television network and broadcasts the message from his heart.

Sen. Barack Obama’s 30-minute extended advertisement reminded me of this.

I’m not calling Obama a terrorist. I am not calling the Bush administration Nazis or fascists. Both these presumptive conclusions are childish attempts to find fault with what I see as a positive comparison.

Listening to Obama, I can’t help but feel hopeful, even though I’m not sure why. I don’t know enough about economic policy, I don’t have the solution to the War in Iraq and I’m not a middle-class family man yet.

What I do know is that Obama looks forward and sees objectives, not obstructions. I can hear it in his voice. I know that he cannot solve our country’s problems on his own, but I am certain he will do everything in his power.

In the film, “V” speaks with confidence about battling his country’s problems. He asks the people of England only to show their support of his plan. He knows that they recognize their country’s problem, and that he is the perfect person to lead them toward an all-too-necessary mini-revolution.

There’s the parallel.

Whether you think Obama is significantly prepared to lead the United States is not the dire issue the media has pumped it up to be.

What matters is that he recognizes what needs to be done and is confident he can provide the leadership necessary to turn things around.

Presidents are not elected to be the cure, they are supposed to act as agents of change. Obama knows what his role will be if he is elected as our 44th president.