The Canadian Press: Obama faces parodies, questions about his promises in Democratic race

"Beyond the humourous backlash, some in the media are starting to ask just how Obama plans to deliver on sweeping promises to unite the country, bridge the racial divide and break the partisan logjam in the U.S. capital.

Delivered with so much charisma, the specifics of these noble goals haven't seemed to matter all that much.

Last week, David Brooks, an influential New York Times columnist, said supporters are starting to suffer from the Obama Comedown Syndrome. "Up until now, The Chosen One's speeches had seemed to them less like stretches of words and more like soul sensations that transcended time and space," wrote Brooks...

Other columnists and TV commentators have wondered if Obama's support has gone from movement to "personality cult."

It's perhaps a valid question about a man who was cheered at a Dallas rally last week for blowing his nose and whose Yes We Can slogan has been turned into a pop music video.

Kurtz has noted that scattered attempts so far to take a detailed tough look at Obama's career have "barely caused a ripple."

They included a Time magazine piece on Obama's penchant for sidestepping issues in the Illinois senate by voting "present" and a look at how he watered down a bill affecting a nuclear power company that contributed to his campaign.

It's hard to imagine that any new such revelations would put a dent in the feverish support of many who find it hard to explain his grip.

"Obama has this almost irrational following and I myself can't sometimes explain why I'm supporting him," Noah Norman, 25, recently told the Washington Post.

"He's all things to all men. At least that's how I put it.""

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AlterNet: Election 2008: Obama's Line On Lobbyists is Misleading

"Opensecrets.org shows that Obama is picking up gobs of money put on the table by these special interests -- including those involved in health care, which will surely have a lot riding on the outcome of the election and will expect to be heard after the election is over.

Consider the sector called lawyers and law firms. Clearly, lawyers and law firms lobby on behalf of their own interests -- like fighting malpractice reform, which could again surface as a thorny issue for the new administration. Clinton and Obama have raised similar amounts from lawyers and law firms -- $11.8 and $9.5 million. McCain and Huckabee have taken far less. The health sector has also given to Obama, Clinton, and McCain. In the pharmaceutical and health product industries, contributions to Clinton total $349,000 and $338,000 to Obama. Again, McCain trails in donations at about $98,000, an indication that the sector sees the real action on the Democratic side of the ballot. Health professionals, which include doctors, nurses, and dentists, have given Clinton some $2.3 million and Obama $1.7 million.

Last August The Boston Globe, in a piece by Scott Helman, took a hard look at Obama's contributions, noting that "behind Obama's campaign rhetoric about taking on special interests lies a more complicated truth." That truth revealed that as a state legislator in Illinois, a U.S. senator, and as a presidential aspirant, Obama had collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from lobbyists and PACs."

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Die lah.