By Colter Hettich, Features Editor

I’d call it a fever. It began sweeping the states months ago. Thanks to a carefully planned, well-staged tour, it seems to have swept Europe. It might be the cynic in me or maybe my gag reaction for the mainstream, but the height to which Barack Obama has risen makes me hesitate.

I will be the first to admit that in the first stages of the primaries, I had as bad a case of Obama fever as anyone. I spent an embarrassing number of hours arguing issues to the death with my “uber-conservative” family – including grandparents, aunts and uncles via e-mail.

But much has changed since the spring.

Obama went overseas and, through everything from meticulously planned photo ops with notable world leaders to addressing around 100,000 listeners at Victory Column, won the hearts of the world. Obama’s people wanted him to speak at the Brandenburg Gate, but Berlin authorities denied that request for obvious reasons.

Granted, Barack Obama is the first black man to make it even close to this far in a presidential race. That is historic; no doubt about it. I can’t believe it happened in my lifetime. But the unashamed aggression with which Obama’s staff has pursued media coverage forces me to wonder, “How much of his popularity and approval has been fabricated by sheer exposure?”

Yes, the Bush administration delivered the worst eight years our country has seen in a long time, but in the past two years, President Bush made significant efforts to right many, not all, of his administration’s wrongs.

From a middle-class, white male’s perspective, I understand Obama’s appeal. He has been more than vocal about Bush’s mistakes and how a near 180-degree change is in order. We’ve seen the damage a president can cause in one term, but how much damage can be repaired in another one term? I dare say it takes exponentially longer to repair something than it takes to break it.

So, is Obama everything we hear he is? I sure hope so. But even if he is, Americans need to have realistic expectations of what Obama can turn around in one or even two terms. It feels good to believe in a savior, but I hope we aren’t putting the fruition of equality, capitalism and democracy on one man’s back.