Who Is Barack Obama? How Will He Lead?

From Jacob Laskin, Senior Editor of Front Page Magazine:

Now reality must intervene. With the longest campaign in memory finally over, it is only fair to ask: Who have Americans elected? Is it the candidate who vowed to meet “without preconditions” with the world’s dictators, suggesting that it was “ridiculous” to oppose such presidential-level diplomacy, or is it the cool exponent of realpolitik who insisted that all talks with America’s enemies must be carefully orchestrated by advisors? Is it the candidate who declared himself a supporter of “clean coal” technology, or the candidate who pledged to “bankrupt” coal companies with carbon taxes?

And how will a President Obama govern? Will he be the candidate who refuses to admit his error on the surge of troops in Iraq, and who promises to “end the war” on a political timeline, or will he become a foreign policy pragmatist who will heed the advice of commanders on the ground? Will he act like the candidate who calls the national debt a “domestic enemy” and promises tax relief for the middle class, or the candidate who would swell the debt by $3.5 trillion and redistribute wealth to the 40 percent of households that pay no income taxes at all? Will he live up to his billing as the “post-racial” candidate, or is the country in store for a painful four years in which to disagree with the new president is to be suspected of the oldest hatred? Nothing in Obama’s record suggests an obvious answer.

This is not entirely the president elect’s fault. No small measure of the blame must go to a media that too often acted as a de facto amplifier for the Obama campaign, raking John McCain over the coals for every perceived slight to its preferred candidate and abandoning any pretence to objectivity. If, on the morning after, voters know little about Obama other than the “historic” nature of his triumph, the media’s embarrassingly slanted coverage surely is one reason why. Barack Obama has made history. But the most pressing question remains: Where will he go from here?