Courtesy of Jeanne d’Arc, something to think about:

The second thing that bothered me, even though it was coming from people who felt the power of that call to progressive values and didn’t try to spin it away, was the emphasis on Obama as a “star.” Folks, this isn’t American Idol. I do not want to hear one more time that we witnessed the political birth of the first African American president. He will be or he won’t be, but Obama’s career plans are the least important thing to care about here. (Although Atrios, as usual, has his eyes on the prize, and points out that a little money thrown in Obama’s direction would increase his influence — a very good thing.) I’m trying to imagine anyone ever listening to RFK or Dr. King speak and respond by saying, “Well, that’s certainly going to do wonders for his career.”

How about what it would mean to the country to act as if we really believed in those ideals?