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Along with many, many others, I tried for the better part of two years to figure out what makes now President-elect Barack Obama tick. Or, perhaps better put, to grasp what it is that so many millions of Americans see in a man who, experience-wise, is so thin you would think everyone could see right through him.

Syndicated columnist and author Mark Steyn is, in my judgment, the finest opinion writer in North America. Over the weekend he penned a column that captured what I had so inadequately tried to say.

As he often does, Steyn begins with a hilarious vignette to make a serious point.

"In Tokyo last week," he writes, "over 1,000 people signed a new petition asking the Japanese government to permit marriages between human beings and cartoon characters. 'I am no longer interested in three dimensions. I would even like to become a resident of the two-dimensional world,' explained Taichi Takashita. 'Therefore, at the very least, would it be possible to legally authorize marriage with a two-dimensional character?'

"Get back to me on that Tuesday night," Steyn continued. "We'll know by then whether an entire constitutional republic has decided to contract marriage with a two-dimensional character and to attempt to take up residence in the two-dimensional world."

While writing tongue-in-cheek, Steyn is making a profoundly insightful observation. Millions of America last night voted for "the two-dimensional Obama --the image, the idea, the 'hope,'" he wrote, but "it will be the three-dimensional Obama –-the real man with the real record--that America will have to live with." Let me offer a few concrete examples.

The two-dimensional Obama tells us he is a non-partisan, reach-across-the-political-aisle sort of guy. The three-dimensional Obama is as partisan as pro-abortion Sens. Charles Schumer and Dick Durban, only not as outwardly vicious.

The two-dimensional Obama says in a debate, "But there surely is some common ground when both those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together" -- for example, by "helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby." The three dimensional Obama advocates cutting off all federal aid to crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs).

The two-dimensional Obama assures the public his goal is to "reduce the number of abortions."

The three-dimensional Obama has vowed to Planned Parenthood the first thing he will do as President is sign a bill that is guaranteed to multiple the number of abortions by a huge amount and to throttle any notion of a conscience clause. Waving The "Freedom of Choice Act" before the anti-life set is like promising an addict a lifetime's supply of crack.

And, finally, the two-dimensional Obama indignantly says NRLC was "lying" when we asserted that he had voted against a state bill virtually identical to the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, intended to provide care and legal protection to infants who survive abortions.

The three-dimensional Obama, while an Illinois state Senator, not only led the opposition to legislation to protect babies who are born alive during abortions, but persisted in his opposition even after Congress had enacted a virtually identical federal bill without a single dissenting vote--and has completely distorted his record every since!

My objective is not simply for us to be able to say, "Hey, we told you so." That is pointless. It is rather to equip you to gently but firmly speak to your friends when they wake up from a dream they choose over consciousness.

Much sooner than later, tens of millions of people who should have known better will sheepishly look you in the face and ruefully respond, "I guess I should have known better."

Part One