Barack Obama = John Kerry + Charisma

When Senator John Kerry endorsed Barack Obama In January as the Democrat Presidential candidate, I smelled a hint of spite. Of the three viable candidates remaining then, Obama was the only one who neither threw Kerry under the bus for his “botched joke” nor torpedoed his 2004 Presidential run with shameless demagoguery.

But now I realize that maybe Kerry’s endorsement was genuine. More specifically, perhaps he saw a lot of himself in Obama. If you have heard some of Obama’s speeches and interactions over the past few weeks, he has employed much of the same rhetoric and techniques that failed Kerry in ’04.

On Sunday, Obama attempted to frighten senior citizens by distorting John McCain’s support for Social Security reform.

Obama said McCain would push to raise the retirement age for collecting Social Security benefits or trim annual cost-of-living increases. Obama has rejected both ideas as solutions to the funding crisis projected for Social Security in favor of making higher-income workers pay more into the system.

"We have to protect Social Security for future generations without pushing the burden onto seniors who have earned the right to retire in dignity," he said.

Kerry in 2004:

"I will never privatize Social Security," the Massachusetts senator said. "I'll never cut the benefits, and I won't raise the retirement age."

"The president's privatization plan for Social Security is another way of saying to our seniors that the promise of security will be broken."

Elitists Obama and Kerry also put forth some of the more laughable attempts at showing their “regular guy” side.

In Indiana earlier this month, Obama stopped in to a small town tavern, saw what the majority of patrons were drinking and said “I’m gonna have a Bud.” Four years earlier in the all important swing state of Ohio, Kerry strolled into an Ohio store and in dumbed down grammar inquired “Can I get me a huntin’ license here?”

What failed miserably in 2004 is being tried again this election cycle. But there is one advantage Obama has over dryball Kerry: he can deliver demagoguery with charisma.

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