Barack Obama formally entered the 2008 Presidential race yesterday.

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois stood on the steps of the Old State Capitol in this city of Abraham Lincoln and, in a grandly choreographed announcement of his plan to seek the presidency, offered himself as the face of a new generation that would bring change to a government that he said was hobbled by cynicism, petty corruption and “a smallness of our politics.”

“The time for that politics is over,” Obama said. “It’s time to turn the page.”

Of course he’s going to run. Afterall, the question of whether Obama is running for President is such a silly question, isn’t it?

“I think I’ve been very clear, that there’s a Presidential election in four years, I’m not running for President in four years. I’ve been absolutely clear about it. I’ve said I think it’s a silly question.”

Well, at least he’s positioned himself as a good Democrat.