Is The True Obama Finally Being Revealed?

It appears some of the sheen is wearing off of the presumptive heir to the Oval Office.

First CBS – yes that CBS – ran the numbers and found too many of Obama's promises don't add up.

Without question, the Barack Obama infomercial served as a very slick and powerful recitation of the biggest promises he's made as a presidential candidate. But the very bigness of his ideas is the problem: he seems blind to the concept his numbers don't add up.

Obama has already proposed a new stimulus package of $188 billion over two years. His tax cuts will cost $85 billion a year. His "army of new teachers": $18 billion; Renewable energy: $15 billion. CBS News and various independent experts estimate Obama's total first year spending could exceed $280 billion.

Still Obama repeated his claim he can find the money to pay for every proposal.

"I've offered spending cuts above and beyond their cost," he has said.

The fact is the savings Obama has identified do not cover his spending. According to a CBS News estimate, he's around $90 billion short. The Obama campaign disputes this, saying everything including the stimulus is paid for over 10 years. But other analysts say - even presuming Obama saves money in Iraq and chops the federal budget as promised - he falls short.

So yet another member of the MSM is willing to admit Obama's promises aren't all they're cracked up to be. Whether this is an 'awakening' of the MSM or a cynical attempt to prove they aren't biased by running a negative story about Obama that isn't likely to hurt his chances is unknown...for now.

Another look at Obama by neo-neocon seeks to remind us of the wisdom of William Shakespeare when Hamlet warned us “...one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.”

She certainly sees the public Obama is not the Obama we need to know. Rather it is Obama the Enigma we must know in order to understand his intentions.

This is why so much attention has been paid—at least by the blogosphere; certainly not by the MSM—to Obama’s actions and his record or lack thereof. This is why his thinness of achievement in almost every position he’s held, as well as his dirty dealings in previous elections, have gotten so much study. This is why his old radio interviews are seen as clues to his true intent, why his reinvention as a centrist is suspect when you look at his liberal past, and why his radical associations are even more important than they would be for someone with a more solid and clear history in the national spotlight. That is why his words to Joe the Plumber have been parsed so finely.

It is the few unguarded glimpses we've seen of him that must make us take pause and ponder what it is he really wants, despite his appearances of having moved towards the political center. If we cannot access his past then we must assume his posturing and promises are an attempt to distract us using the old smoke-and-mirrors bit. He's a great salesman, selling the only product he knows so well: himself.

Sometimes pictures do speak louder than words, and in this case I think this one says it all: