ABC News writes that Barack Obama's decision to go to Hawaii to visit his sick, elderly grandmother a mere two weeks before the election shows a "glimmer of [his] character." Hardly, I say. Just another transparent effort to pander to interest groups, this time the women's vote. And besides, he's winning, so this adds to the aura of inevitability. Or as Forrest Gump might remark "cynical is as cynical does."
Update: Oh, and Barack also gets to counter the race issue — the so-called "Bradley effect" — by having all these stories (and accompanying photos) appear about his grandma, who raised him for years and who is conveniently white! So it's doubly cynical.
Update 2: Egg on my face. Grandma died days before the election. So there was a real, and serious, element of humanity in this trip by president-elect Barack Obama. It was not ALL politics, although why did US television viewers never see his black-as-night, and living, Kenyan grandmother? Obama ran a masterful campaign that never talked about race (until it was over), but played the race card subtly, very subtly. Politics is ever too far from the mind of politicians even when they are devoted grandsons.