As one born in Africa (Liberia, West Africa, to be exact), I initially yielded to the strong temptation to become an automated Barack Obama fan. The African connection is a strong urge to resist, you know. But then the more Mr. Obama went beyond his uplifting platitudes about change and hope into the specifics of his ideas, the more nervous I grew. He came across as very secular, though he kept insisting that he was a committed Christian who had attended the same church for 20 years. His ideas about the environment, the role of government, abortion, taxes, along with his apparent disdain for religious people, painted the young senator as an ultra liberal. He seemed like a black version of Ted Kennedy. It was becoming too painfully clear that Obama is the most liberal person to ever win the nomination of a major political party in the United States. And that record is far less attractive than his being the first African American to come this far in the history of American presidential elections.

Also, as Barack ran with the ball for the extreme left of the Democratic Party, he made Hillary Clinton look like a woman of faith, like she was Mrs. Traditional Values. Remember her double-digit wins over Barack in Virginia and Kentucky?

But that was until Mrs. Clinton bowed out of the race. Since then Barack Obama has begun to move towards positions that make native-born Africans like me more at home with some of his beliefs and ideas, though I remain troubled by his views on abortion and taxes.

Among his recent good turns ~ some call them flips ~ is his recent announcement about keeping Faith-Based and Community Initiative in place. The White House office of Faith-Based and Community Initiative is based on the principle that "Federal funds should be awarded to the most effective organizations-whether public or private, large or small, faith-based or secular-and all must be allowed to compete on a level playing field." For blacks, this is huge, because the funds that the federal government pumps into faith-based programs often benefit the disproportionate number of blacks who are caught up in a web of poverty, drugs and crimes that religious organizations reach out to. So I say, "Good move, Barack Obama!" And I think millions of African Americans concur.

But is Barack really moving to the political center? One short answer to that question is, just look at who's getting outraged by Obama's "flips". MoveOn is not happy, and for us not-so-leftist folk, that's a good sign.

It is clever on Barack's part to veer to the center, because the one Democrat who last won the presidency did just that. Bill Clinton did not run and win as a liberal Democrat; it was moderate and sometimes conservative rhetoric that landed Mr. Clinton in the White House. On the other hand, Al Gore, running on a leftist platform, lost to George W. Bush in 2000, though Mr. Gore had the great advantage of a very popular President Clinton in the wake of a strong economy. Same tale with John Kerry in 2004; he ran liberal; he lost.

It seems clear now that Barack is listening to the Clintons or Clintonites. How do we know? The man is sounding more like Hillary Clinton in the latter weeks of her campaign, and by extension like Bill Clinton. Barack has heard and gotten the message: "Presidential elections are never won on the left. Run right. That's where the win is. After you've won, you can do what you really believe. Run right; govern left. (But stay away from the interns!)"

It is true; Mr. Obama will anger some more of his grassroots army of leftists if he continues to talk faith, or fine-tune his withdraw-from-Iraq policy. But if Barack has run his political calculator correctly, he must have figured out by now, with the help of the Clinton Wing, that it is a less costly risk to enrage MoveOn and the leftist warriors, who make up such a small minority of the American electorate, than to risk losing the White House by remaining ultra liberal and irritating conservative America, the president makers, as recent elections have proven.

Another thing: the more Obama goes moderate, the more he sounds like John McCain. And given two versions of McCain, Americans may opt for pick the younger of the McCains in an effort to avoid "George Bush's third term", particularly regarding the Iraq War.