Imagine this. Obi-wan Obama the zen-master sitting Buddha-like, voice a calming balm, is giving an interview.

Interviewer: What about the war on terrorism?

Obi-wan: We can save the planet.

Interviewer: What about the war in Iraq?

Obi-wan: We can end a war.

Interviewer: What about corruption and rising unemployment and soaring gas prices and…?

Obi-wan: We can change the world.

Zen politics. Short on where the rubber meets the road. But long on de profundis. So why is this stuff flying like a political rocket ship?

The answer is simple. Obi-wan’s foil. Hillary.

Look at her new ad. Arching an eyebrow she declares pertly, ‘I want to respond to so and so’s email about ‘No Child Left Behind.’ Now does anyone on earth think Hillary picked ‘Joe’s’ email out of a stack at random to answer? Or does someone think, maybe, she took a poll which said attacking George Bush was a good idea?

Normally, you’d expect anyone whose answer to the complex problems facing the United States is an ethereal, We can save the planet – would be disqualified from running for anything other than Student Body President. But Obama’s running against Hillary whose answers – at least in her new ad – sound phony as a three dollar bill.

That’s the choice facing Democratic voters. A zen-master. And a chameleon.