For more than a year, I've been basing my enthusiasm for Barack Obama — particularly compared with his craven competitors Clinton and McCain — on his potential, and on his potential willingness, to lead.

Now that he has reversed his position on offshore drilling, I get to see if I'm willing to follow. So far, anyway, I'm in.

I don't like the idea of offshore drilling. Its principle defects, to me, are the possibilities for environmental disaster and the certainty that more drilling is not the answer to any problem. No one thinks that oil to be found off our shores is going to create more than a ripple in the oil supply, or substantially alter the economics of the oil market, or increase our energy independence. And whatever effects it does have won't arrive for a decade, making it no more than a placebo in the current environment.

But Obama says the question of drilling is a point on which we can compromise, and now that he's said it, I'm willing to see it, albeit with skepticism and a desire for limits.

For my fear of environmental despoilation from a drilling platform, I concede that there are an awful lot of platforms that have been functioning without spills for a very long time. I do believe that humans err, and technology inevitably fails, but the larger picture does seem to say that oil can be drilled offshore without Exxon Valdez-like catastrophe.

To the futility of it, I'm willing to tell proponents to knock themselves out, if they want to feel better this way. If public money isn't funding it, and the decision to allow drilling doesn't delude anyone into thinking we don't need what are clearly the real answers — conservation and efficiency, and renewable sourcing — then fine, go feel better.

As the prospect for an Obama presidency draws nearer, I'm beginning to get clearer on what wanting a leader means. I have to be willing to change my positions, or to stay with the chief even if I think he's heading the wrong way. The only way I'm going to get there is via faith that the guy is smart enough, and strong enough, and wise enough. For today, I've still got it.