Illinois junior Sen. Barack Obama has announced the formation of an exploratory committee for a run for the presidency in 2008.

Obama's biography is rather thin gruel for a run for the presidency -- eight years in the Illinois State Senate and two years in the U.S. Senate -- for a presidential run. However, in today's appearance-obsessed media culture a guy who looks good in a bathing suit is apparently all it takes to be a serious contender.

The fact that the numerous trial balloons floated over the past several months weren't pricked by a properly skeptical press and instead encouraged to even loftier heights goes to show that the beltway media isn't doing its job either.