There's been a lot of talk lately about Barack Obama switching sides on key issues, and this has prompted the old tired calls from many on the right (and even some on the left) to decry Obama for being "all style and no substance."

While I plan to address the "flip-flop" issue on Monday, About.com guest writer Jack Kerwick tackles the "style" vs. "substance" argument in this week's "Friday's Guest Column."

From the article:

The truth is this: Obama is indeed a radical, and unquestionably the most radical presidential candidate this country has ever seen. His speeches, designed as they are to conceal this, consist of exceedingly vague generalities that render them, at least to the untrained ear, woefully vapid. But that is the point: his speeches wouldn’t need to place a premium on “style” if the “substance” of his views didn’t so offend mainstream American sensibilities.

And he knows it.

Top: Film actor Robert Duvall & TV star Angie Harmon
Middle: Sitcom actor Patricia Heaton & Musician Ted Nugent
Bottom: Price Is Right host Drew Carey & The View co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck

Every four years, the nation turns its attention away from the multitude of fractious local issues that divide it and, instead, form two, three or four national groups in order to elect a president. Issues that don't directly affect the day-to-day lives of typical Americans -- foreign policy, the environment, terrorism, etc. -- suddenly rise to the collective forefront and are used to vet the candidates. In the end, though, self-preservation wins out. It can't be helped. The local issues are too important.

And while these important local issues may vary from one individual voter to another, they also often vary by region. A community problem, such as job layoffs or high gas prices, is local, and yet it also becomes a key component to the wider national debate.

Likewise, similar local issues can have very different broader implications. Job layoffs in a small Michigan town become an example of the impact of a slow national economy. Job losses in an Arizona county, on the other hand, (or inaccessability to jobs) become an example of the need for immigration reform.

Some local issues are the same everywhere, but regional circumstances offer different elements to the national dialogue. High gas prices in an Alaskan village, for example, become the argument for lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling. High gas prices in California become the argument for alternative forms of energy.

While the top local issues in one state may be vastly different from the top issues in another, they are, collectively, important to us all.

Regardless of who wins the presidency in November, one of the key issues facing our new leader will be soothing national racial tensions. Just today, John McCain's people accused Barack Obama of "playing the race card" after Obama cautioned his supporters that McCain would be sure to make race an issue because the presumptive Democratic nominee is so ... "different."

As if to underscore how important he finds the issue of race relations to be in America, McCain gave a speech before members of the Urban League today and delivered remarks to the NAACP just recently. The gist of these talks was to let African Americans know he cares about the issues that are most important to them.

In this week's "Friday's Guest" column, About.com guest commentator Jack Kerwick takes a look at race relations in post-election America and what Americans can expect as the nation recalibrates its political machinery to brace for the new administration.

From the article:

The notion that charges of “racism” against American (white) society will diminish or cease with an Obama presidency cannot be seriously entertained. In fact, if Obama wins, the cottage industry devoted to “combating” the evil of “racism” that emerged in the 1960s and which continues to thrive today, will expand exponentially. That things couldn’t really be otherwise becomes obvious once we consider the extent to which so many activists, politicians, intellectuals, academics, and pop-culture celebrity figures of various sorts have invested their very lives into sustaining and growing it. It is not just money and fame, but immense psychic and emotional satisfactions that are among the dividends for pitting oneself against the omnipotent and omnipresent forces of “racism” in our “politically correct” culture.