Obama's Blank Screen

Writing for the Associated Press, Jim Kuhnhenn has written an interesting article about the appeal of Illinois freshman Democratic Senator Barack Obama.

Three years ago Obama was a state senator with an interesting family history. Now he is Democrats' preferred alternative to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

It has only been two years since Obama gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. What has Obama accomplished to justify all the presidential campaign hype?

Won election to the U.S. Senate

Taken a high-profile trip to Africa

Campaigned for Democratic congressional candidates

Published a second, best-selling book

Acknowledged that he is considering running for the White House

Obviously, those accomplishments don't explain the hype. Kuhnhenn notes that Barack Hussein Obama Jr. is the son of a Kenyan father and a white mother, who offers himself as a cross-generational politician. Obama seeks to break the conventional left and right, liberal-conservative pigeonholes of American politics:

"Both the '60s revolution and the subsequent backlash ended up locking us into an either or debate on almost every issues," he said. "Either you were pro-military or anti-military. You were pro-traditional family or somehow you were against traditional family. The American people living their lives have a much more complex view of these issues."

In his book, "The Audacity of Hope," Obama states:

I am new enough on the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.

Obama's blank screen is his inexperience. In the U.S. Senate less than two years, Obama has not had as much opportunity to disappoint groups of voters as have the other 12 Senators and former Senators who are potential 2008 candidates.

A new Pew Research Center poll suggests the public is looking for fresh political faces:

The lists of potential presidential nominees for both parties mostly consist of veteran politicians, but the public wants more people from different walks of life to compete for high political office. About six-in-ten Americans (57%) say they would like to see more non-politicians run for high office, compared with 33% who think it is important to have experienced politicians running for office. Comparable percentages of independents (59%), Democrats (59%) and Republicans (56%) say it would be good for political outsiders to run for high office.

Obama's appeal as an inexperienced newcomer plays to the public's boredom with the same old politicians.

As Obama becomes more popular and suffers the scrutiny always received by ambitious politicians, he will become more tarnished.

Earlier this month, Obama admitted the appearance of impropriety in connection with a series of financial arrangements he made with indicted political fundraiser, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, to improve their adjoining properties.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Rezko has pleaded not guilty to charges he plotted to squeeze millions of dollars in kickbacks out of investment firms seeking business with the state of Illinois, allegations that put him at the center of a growing scandal surrounding Governor Rod Blagojevich's administration. Rezko has also has pleaded not guilty to allegations he obtained a $10.5 million business loan through fraud and swindled a group of investors.

Rezko and his companies donated at least $19,500 to Obama's state Senate campaigns and federal fund. Rezko also held a 2003 fundraiser for Obama's U.S. Senate campaign.

It just takes a little scrutiny for the blank screen to be filled with lasting images.