Let Them Down Easy

As I put on a T-shirt this weekend, my 7-year-old daughter made the fairly astute observation that I was wearing a shirt that used to not fit. At all.

“It must be the exercise, Daddy,” she said. She was right. And it wasn’t because of this, but because of this guy.

She followed that up with pure flattery. “And if you keep exercising, your muscles will get so big you’ll rip the shirt.” Apparently, they learn hyperbole and sucking-up at a young age these days.

But to her I’m Superman combined with the Incredible Hulk. Infallible and idolized. It is quite a position to be in. And, knowing how imperfect we all truly are, terrifying. It got me to thinking about when to tell her that we are all just human. As parents, we do the best with the tools we have but are far from perfect.

Naw, I thought. We’ll just let this moment last as long as possible. At some point she’ll figure it out. Hopefully, it won’t be too much of a letdown for her.

But in politics, expectations do matter. In the presidential campaign, when should Barack Obama (D-Ill.) let his supporters down easy? There’s been plenty written about his messianic image among the throngs. His rhetoric can be disconcerting.

When does he let them know, direct from the source, that he has lofty goals but is actually only a politician? One thing is for sure. It should have been long before now.

Because Obama allowed the flattery to continue for so long, the usual campaign hits hurt worse. Just today, he made a political decision to opt out of public financing for the general election — a pragmatic decision, given his fundraising acumen. Small problem, though. He piously promised the liberal pressure group Common Cause that he would take public financing and eschew the “evil” special interest money.

Unfortunately for Obama, this is but one case of him acting like a typical pol. He continues to allow himself to be widely separated from even the penumbra of truth when he attacks Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) about how long troops will be in Iraq, even though his assault has long since been disproven again and again. His other documented flip-flops range from illegal immigration to whether or not unions are special interests (which really should be self-definitional no matter what your opinion of Big Labor).

His hardcore supporters won’t be moved. They’ve already done shots of the Kool-Aid. But this type of typical politician behavior is damaging for the independents and crossover voters who once believed that he would embrace a different brand of politics.

It’s best to admit your fallibility on your own terms and time rather than have your hopes and dreams — and more importantly, your supporters’ hopes and dreams for you — come crashing to the ground at a time when your candidacy should be set to soar.