There were two articles – one about Barack Obama and another I’ll tell you about in a moment – in the News and Observer the other day.

Here’s one paragraph from the story about Obama. He said, speaking in Indianapolis, “No matter what the color of your skin, no matter what faith we practice, no matter how much money we have, no matter whether we are sanitation workers, or Unites States Senators, we all have a stake in one another, we are our brother’s keeper, we are our sister’s keeper, and either we go up together or we go down together.”

Here’s a line from the story right next to it: “Paris – Pirates seized control of a French luxury yacht carrying thirty crew members Friday off Somalia, the French government and the ships owner said. Attackers stormed the 288-foot Le Ponant as it returned…from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea…”

It is impossible, morally, to argue with the idea we are our brother’s keeper.

But compare Obama’s messianic rhetoric to the real world in the Indian Ocean and you have to wonder, Is he ready to deal with pirates? (Or with the bigger villains in the mountains north of the Indian Ocean?)

Does he understand that when you deal with pirates saying ‘we’re all brothers’ and ‘we all go up together or down together’ is juvenile mush?

Here’s another soaring line from one of Obama’s ads. He intones:

“We can end a war,

“We can save the planet,

“We can change the world.”

This may set the young people afire and leave them swooning at Obama’s feet – but is this realism? Or rose-colored idealism? The last time we talked ourselves into a crusade to save the world – by spreading democracy – we walked right into a disaster.

Obama opines in another ad:

“There is not a conservative America,

“There is not a liberal America,

“There is a United States of America.”

Uplifting rhetoric. But it’s one true statement hiding two fictions beneath the sound of a chorus of angels singing hallelujah.

There is a conservative America. There is a liberal America. And what rational person would deny it?

Obama is a fascinating candidate. But his messianic rhetoric is beginning to set off alarm bells. He can’t heel by touch or walk on water. In fact, his greatest feat is raising $200 million over the Internet. So, how can he save the planet?

His rhetorical crescendos are wearing thin. They’re beginning to sound like the misty-eyed claims of a politician promising castles-in-the-sky to win an election – or a man so naïve and wildly proud his juvenile hubris blinds him.

But, what about the pirates? Is Obama the man – as President – to confront them? Or is electing a man who’s mission is to save the planet – asking for trouble?

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