Eric Christian Olsen on Barack Obama, as told to Joel Stein of the L.A. Times: “Nothing is more fundamentally powerful than how I felt when I met him. I stood, my hand embraced in his, and … I felt something … something that I can only describe as an overpowering sense of Hope.”
That’s nothing like what I felt when I met him and took this picture of him with my friend Willy at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in 2005. All I felt was the half-assed handshake of a guy who seemed like he wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but strolling along a cold Michigan Avenue glad-handing voters (he flashed the smile like a good politician when I pulled out the camera).
He had already shown his charismatic side with the keynote at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, but I think most Chicagoans knew that he was just another Machine politician who won a seat in Congress because Jack Ryan turned out to be too freaky for the “family values” side of the aisle and Alan Keyes was about to disown his daughter because she’s gay.
I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with voting for Obama. I’m just glad I’m not the only one who sees through the holier-than-thou sheen Obamaphilia has created.
