There's a reason I snubbed every smug mug handing out Barack Obama pamphlets or inviting me to attend his talks. There's a reason I didn't jump on the Obama Obandwagon like most of my liberally-minded college compatriots. I am, at heart, a bitter skeptic. I don't believe in Santa Claus, I don't believe that all people are inherently good and, however much I really want to with every fiber of my being, I don't believe in Obama. I wanted to believe that he would stand his ground, defending his radically liberal ideas all the way to the White House. I wanted to see him rise above the petty squabbles and pandering, but watching Barack sitting with mega-church icon Pastor Rick Warren answering the question "What is your greatest moral failure?" I lost all hope. That seems an awful lot like pandering for someone who said he was going to rise above "old style politics."Yet my faith in Obama was shaken far before the Warren forum. It began with the Hillary-Obama slugfest that destroyed any faith I had left in the unity of the Democratic party. Then, in the time since Clinton's defeat, there have been shifts in his platform on issues like the Iraq War and oil drilling that lead me to doubt his commitment to change.

Then there is the celebrity factor-the idea that Obama is winning on the strength of his persona. Republican nominee John McCain recently ran a tasteless and exaggerated ad comparing Obama to mainstream celebrities like Paris Hilton and was appropriately reprimanded by critics.

Yet there is a disturbing grain of truth within that message. The American people are not known for their in-depth news examination. Too many citizens take what they hear and see on mainstream media outlets at face value. This plays right into Obama's strengths as a charismatic, well-rehearsed public speaker. The vast majority of people don't look far beyond this persona. I believe that if Obama is elected, it will not be testament to the merits of our political system, but rather to the power media holds over us.

That's not to say that I support McCain. Far from it. Reasoning that having been a prisoner of war qualifies someone for office is like arguing that a Sept. 11 survivor is qualified to run an airline conglomerate. I will still cast my vote for Obama come election time, but it won't be because I believe in him; it will be because he isn't John McCain.