The positive side of Obama's "celebrity"

The responses of McCain and Obama to the pending landfall of Hurricane Gustav show critical differences in how they would govern.

McCain and soul-mate Sarah Palin head the gulf to "check on preparations" at the invitation of Mississippi governor Haley Barbour. Given McCain's inability to understand that the ability to walk safely through Iraq as part of an armored column doesn't mean that Iraq is safe, I'll be interested to see what he's "checking..." The imagination strains trying to picture him scrutinizing sandbag walls for proper construction... Basically the standard-issue response from the GOP over the past 8 years of showing up to get some photo-ops at the disaster site, but not actually helping.

Obama on the other hand plans to use his influence and e-mail list to mobilize his supporters to volunteer and send money after the storm hits.

"We can activate an e-mail list of a couple million people who want to give back," he said. "I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there if it becomes necessary."

It would probably be terrible for America to have a president who could get people to volunteer and sacrifice in the face of an emergency...