John McCain and Barack Obama seem to occupy different universes.
In McCain's universe, the planets rotate around the sun in a predictable pattern. In Obama's universe, he is the sun – and we are but minor planets revolving around his brilliant countenance.
Rarely have the different orbits of these two men been more vivid than last week. While Obama was re-enacting the rapture before 200,000 worshippers in Berlin, McCain was grinding out economic policy with fellow earthlings at Schmidt's Restaurant and Sausage Haus in Columbus, Ohio.
Yet the veteran still is not losing to the novice. Though Obama gained a few points in the polls following his Berlin speech, a new Gallup/USA Today poll shows McCain leading by 4 percentage points among likely voters.
The easiest explanation is McCain's familiarity against a relative newcomer. But another possible explanation may be more instinctual. Obama is too good to be true.
Like an "American Idol" winner, Obama seemed to spring from the wings a fully formed celebrity. He knows all the right moves but, like the young superstar, there's something missing. It's that intangible but palpable something that comes from paying dues.
Being older and working longer don't necessarily make one better or more capable, obviously. Some people are blessed with greater talent, more intelligence, better looks. But Americans are skeptical of those who skip the line. Obama is like the guy who ignores the "merge ahead" sign, speeds past other drivers waiting their turn and expects to be let in at the front.
Or so it feels sometimes.
When critics speak of Obama's youth and inexperience, that may be partly what they mean. Youth is lovely and inexperience isn't a character flaw. But Obama keeps sprinting ahead of himself. The presidential-looking seal on his podium was presumptuous. His overseas tour had the feel of a premature victory lap.
To team Obama, these are dreams come true, prayers answered, strategies ratified. Yet to skeptical Americans – those not quite ready to declare Obama commander in chief – there's a deep-brain recoil in the presence of too much too soon. Adoring masses may inspire excitement, but they don't necessarily inspire confidence.
Where exactly does this pied piper lead?
That's the question with no clear answer. Obama's campaign plane features "CHANGE" in large black lettering, but change to what? A better world as one people? A world where the rise of oceans slows and the planet heals? A moment when we give hope to the world, jobs to the jobless, health to the sick, sight to the blind, mobility to the lame and life everlasting?
Amen to that, but how? And at what cost?
Obama may be easy on the eye and sonorous to the ear, but those qualities ultimately could hurt him among the less easily seduced. Come November, the more reassuring image in voters' minds may not be the charismatic figure preaching global unity to a mesmerized Berlin throng, but an old warrior hashing out less cosmic concerns among regular Americans in a German cafe in Columbus.
Kathleen Parker is a writer for the Washington Post. This is her debut column in The Bee. Reach her at kparker@kparker.com.
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