Twenty-nine. Yes, there were 29 personal policy pledges that Sen. Obama made in his acceptance speech Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention. Not to make him sound overly dubious, but this man is simply gearing himself up for disaster if he actually plans on fulfilling each one of those.

As a young adult with a mild case of ADD and an extremely short attention span, I love change — can’t get enough of it, actually. So with all this “change” I keep hearing about, you’d probably imagine I’d be all gung-ho about Barack Obama and all the change he wants to stick up America’s back-end. However, just as is the case with any politician who ever existed, it’s difficult to trust him, too.

The way Barack talks, he acts like we’re just going to rally up all the hard workers of America and hand out benefits to the poor, give ’em all free doctors, give ’em all jobs and Christmas presents and a puppy, too. It’s not that easy.

These days, the only person I want in the White House is someone who’s not full of crap. It would be pleasant to hear Mr.. Obama say something like: “Well, I don’t know if we can make health care affordable for everyone. It’s pretty expensive. Uhh, I guess I can try.”

Now THAT would be an honest pledge. He doesn’t know. Perfect. At least I’d know he’s telling me the truth. Unfortunately, only incredibly confident people can make headway in politics, and just saying you’ll try isn’t exactly the most reassuring promise in the world. Barack Obama has this very “cut the crap” approach to presidential politics. The only thing I’m worried about is that this could all very well morph into the same old crap we’ve seen before.

In order for his domestic policies to see much daylight, the public will have to make some sort of sacrifice to see it all through. You want to cut foreign dependency on oil? Buy a smaller car. Are you paying too many bills? Well, stop applying for new credit cards and don’t buy houses you can’t afford in the first place.

Sorry to seem skeptical when it comes to anyone at all in the Oval Office, but I’m from the generation that’s been through eight years of lies, corruption and a man that brings a bad name to anything associated with “Big Business”. It’s what we’ve gotten used to, but even after further examination of a history book, you might even think to yourself, “Wow . this actually happens pretty regularly.”

History is clouded with clear examples of leaders failing to fulfill their promises. Most of what gets said in a campaign serves only one purpose: to make someone more popular than the other guy and win some votes. Consider the probability of it later because the next 60 days are what really matter. It blows my mind that people still take the specifics of any speech made by a presidential nominee seriously. Truly believing in someone running for president is more along the lines of taking a shot in Vegas. It’s a gamble that you really won’t be sure of until it’s too late.

I believe Obama truly does have an aspiration to bring the power in America back to where it should be, the local level, and do what’s best for everyone, rather than just those who fill up his bank account. However, that’s going to be a hard trip for some dude who’s new to Washington. The promises he’s making sound great. But they’re just not plausible.

Garrison Ebie is a senior electronic media production major and columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. He doesn’t trust John McCain either. Contact him at [email protected].