http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081030/COL05/810300305/1004/COL

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Barack Obama is a transformational political savior, a reincarnation of JFK who will bring peace, justice and worldwide respect as he is "fulfilling Martin Luther King's dream," in the words of one Enquirer headline.

Or he's a smooth-talking humbug in a glossy wrapper - a radical socialist, friend of terrorists, another clueless Jimmy Carter who will cause economic ruin as he appeases our enemies.

Both Obamas are possible.

Both views are true and false because more than any candidate in our lifetimes, he is a blank sheet of paper, where critics and supporters can write down anything they want.

The reason for that is as disturbing as the fears of Obama: The Fourth Estate has been AWOL. The media have abandoned their responsibility to check out both candidates. We know next to nothing about Obama except what he and his fawning friends in the press have decided to tell us.

Fear and loathing

And that's why this election has pushed so many people out on a ledge. Many of his supporters are worried that something dark and ugly from the blank spots in his resume could jump out of a box and scare voters. So they viciously attack his critics to keep the lid on tight.

Whenever a troubling issue comes up - Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, links to ACORN voter fraud, radical defense of abortion, drug use - they wrap it in yellow tape and tell us, "Move along, folks, nothing to see here."

Many conservatives, motivated more by fear of Obama than enthusiasm for McCain, are just as jittery. Web sites, chain e-mails and talk radio are teeming with Obamaphobia. Some spread the word about real connections to a Chicago crook, his radical America-hating pastor and domestic terrorists. Others spread wild, high-octane fiction that make him look like a Marxist in a moderate suit.

When our election equipment operates properly, the press checks out those allegations and either confirms them or dismisses them as pulp fiction from conspiracy nuts who think aliens in black helicopters blew up the Trade Center.

But this time, the background screening machine was unplugged for Obama. While Sarah Palin, John McCain and even Joe the Plumber got the full wand treatment and pat-down, Obama was whisked past the security checkpoint by his fans in the press.

So people are left to guess about the real Obama.

The media will pay a price for this. There's a reason 70 percent say the press wants Obama to win. In this election, there's not even a flimsy pretense of being objective. And that betrayal of public trust and professional standards will do lasting damage.

But nothing much can be done about it now that we're in the final two-minute drill.

If Obama wins, we may be in for a surprise. I hope it's a pleasant one. But there are reasons to doubt that.

'Spread wealth' sincerity

In a 2001 radio interview, Obama showed disdain for the Constitution and embraced socialism. He said that a failure of the civil rights struggle was that "the Supreme Court never entered into the issues of redistribution of wealth." He defined the Constitution as a menu of "negative rights" that "says what the federal government can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf."

So Obama's "spread the wealth" remark in Toledo was no slip. He believes it.

Why isn't the press asking for an explanation? When it was reported at all, the story was dismissed as an attack by McCain.

But if that's the real Obama, giving him the almost absolute power of an unchecked Democratic majority in the House and Senate could cause more damage than Carter. The analogy would be closer to FDR, who ran as a moderate, then prolonged the Depression with a legacy of big-government socialism, even trying to rig the Supreme Court to bypass the Constitution.

Obama gives us a lot to worry about: Weakness in the war on terrorism. Alarming inexperience. Tax hikes that could aggravate the economic crisis. Thin-skinned retaliation against critics. A pinched view that the Constitution guarantees "negative rights," not liberties.

But the biggest worry is what we don't even know about Barack Obama.