Christian or Cyrano, for whom would you vote?

My lovely wife Karen recently asked an interesting hypothetical: is Obama the modern character of Christian, from the play, Cyrano de Bergerac?

If you recall the story, Cyrano was an extremely eloquent and articulate, but homely, orator. He spoke for his friend, Christian, a handsome man who had fallen in love with the same woman as Cyrano, the fair Roxane. But, Christian was not nearly as articulate as Cyrano. So, in honoring his friendship with Christian, and not believing he had a chance with Roxane because of his appearance, Cyrano proceeded to successfully woo Roxane behind the face of Christian.

So today we have Obama; eloquent and likable in his demeanor, handsome in his own way, but decidedly left-leaning in all his past endeavors. Recently, however, Obama took a turn towards the right to place himself in the political center, a better position from which to get elected.

But who crafted the new ideas for him to espouse? Was it Obama himself (not likely, given his penchant and past for the left-wing ideology)? Is this a case similar to Cyrano - where Obama is attractive to Americans because his appearance - his race - gives us an opportunity to put slavery well behind us, but his strong belief in the political left is off-putting to the majority of Americans? So, how to make Obama "sound" like a better candidate than he really is?

This question is important as voters try to decide for whom they will vote - Obama the man, or Obama's campaign team?

In the end of the play, Roxane found her end in a convent, with neither Christian nor Cyrano to love. Both Christian and Cyrano died, and it was only at the very end - too late - that Roxane realized where her passions truly lie. I believe the American voter already knows where his or her passions lie; but, as in Cyrano de Bergerac, it has become impossibly hard to discern who the true recipient of those passions should be.