OVER HIS HEAD
and it sure feels nice.
The news broke as all twenty-first century political
news must: in a buzz-and-traffic-generating web site posting. Illinois Junior
Senator and Democratic Golden(-Brown) Boy Barack Obama will simultaneously
advance and prolong his already too-coy-by-half 2008 campaign flirtation by
creating a presidential exploratory committee, which in most cases is political
shorthand for I'm going to see if I can
get enough support and raise enough money to be a serious
candidate,
but in this case and for this
not-quite-yet-so-stay-tuned-til-mid-February candidate is pusillanimous
shorthand for This gives me even more time
to be talked about and fawned over before I actually have to start committing to
the rigors and scrutiny of a real campaign.
I thought I would allow the occasion to pass without comment -- which really is the level of time and attention it deserves -- until I read Obama Jumps into Presidential Fray, a front page story in this morning's Washington Post by Shailagh Murray and Chris Cillizza, and realized that its profile of Obama and its analysis of his impending, possible, potential, somebody-say-pretty-please candidacy captures, in the space of just over 1,200 words, almost every single doubt and reservation and (who are we kidding?) deep-seated fear I have about his chances of securing the 2008 Democratic nomination.
Chief among them, of course, is the realization -- shared, it seems, by fewer and fewer rational Democrats -- that we're trying to pick a president, not a prom date. This puppy love affair with Obama, these first-blush infatuations and flirtations that so many supporters feel for him without knowing anything about him except that big smile and that sexy voice, still seem to me, as I have argued many times before, an awful lot like the Republican love affair with that straight-shootin', fortuitously named governor from Texas. And we all know how that turned out.
I realize that conventional wisdom in the Democratic Party suggests they couldn't possibly nominate, much less elect, someone less effective than our current president. But that doesn't mean they should try to test the theory. Or fail to read between the lines...
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, whose best-selling books and political travels generated huge pressure to run for the White House, joined a crowded Democratic field yesterday, vowing to advance "a different kind of politics" in a campaign that could make him the nation's first African-American president.
Sure, a different kind of politics and the nation's first African-American president sound great. Especially to Democrats grown tired of the old-school, politics-as-usual core rotting out of the administration of the nation's first Idiot-American president. But once you get past the empty (and not especially original) rhetoric and move beyond the audacity of hoping for executive diversity, you're left with a lede that can not possibly bury Obama's lack of experience and accomplishment.
Take a look at that first sentence again. Now think about it for a moment. The two most compelling and substantive examples of Obama's experience are his best-selling books and his political travels. If those are the only achievements applying pressure to the lump of coal that is his interest in the nomination, it's difficult to imagine him squeezing out a diamond of a candidacy in a little less than a year.
Obama, a state legislator just three years ago, announced that he has formed a presidential exploratory committee, accelerating his already rapid emergence in national politics and establishing him as his party's most formidable rival to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the Democratic front-runner.
A state legislator -- and a not particularly distinguished one, at that -- just three years ago. A president two years from now. Does that give pause to anyone but me? Anyone? Especially when the intervening years will have been spent not as a hard-working legislator but as a speech-giving, fund-raising, glad-handing politician who's quite possibly spent more time on photo shoots and media interviews than on writing or crafting bills.
Obama, 45, portrayed his youth and short tenure in Congress as an asset in a statement distributed via Web video and e-mail.
His youth and short tenure in national politics are assets? Is this what presidential politics -- or any kind of politics -- have become? Is this what we want them to become? Especially in an election that hopes to find a successor to one of the least knowledgeable, least effective presidents in U.S. history? Are we willing to devalue wisdom and experience even more than we already have? Enough, even, to beat them into submission with the twin cudgels of blind hope and charming potential?
Hell, let's find someone who's 35 and has never served in Congress. He'd be even better!
"Today, our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, common sense way," the senator declared. "Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions."
This from a man whose chief successes and greatest value to his party have so far been as a fundraiser. Whose best claim to the soft charms of sweet bipartisan politics is grounded in a two-and-a-half-year-old convention speech that still provides the best moments in his biographical video. And whose solutions to those big problems have so far been limited to giving empty, feel-good, ordinary-people-can-work-together-to-do-extraordinary-things speeches about them.
(Am I the only one who's bothered by the fact that, so far, everything a Barack Obama candidacy seems poised or willing to offer us is straight out of the Can't We All Just Get Along, Hold Hands, and Sing "Kumbaya" Around the Campfire Until All Our Problems Go Away playbook for liberal stereotypes? Shouldn't we at least offer up a candidate that the Rush Limbaughs and Karl Roves of the world will actually have to work up a sweat to distort and caricature? His impressive oratory not withstanding, Obama's rhetoric still hasn't progressed much beyond Jimmy Carter Meets Stuart Smalley.)
But it is Obama's ethnic profile and life story that set him apart. His late father was a black Kenyan, his mother the white daughter of a Kansas farmer. Obama was born in Hawaii, lived in Indonesia in his youth and was the first African American to be elected Harvard Law Review president.
Since books and speeches and fundraising aren't enough upon which to build a whole campaign, it makes sense, I suppose, to crack the old biography-as-hagiography political chestnut to its illogical extreme. If Obama's political story isn't compelling enough for you -- and it's not -- then we'll just warm your heart with the diversity-proud details of his heritage and his pleasantly challenged personal life.
Think I'm exaggerating? Check out the About Barack page on Obama's Presidential Exploratory Committee web site. You'll find ten paragraphs of biographical information. After the first sentence of the first paragraph (Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961.), you won't read another word about the senator until the second clause of the fourth paragraph. Nearly thirty percent of the page About Barack is actually About Barack's Parents and Grandparents: how his mother grew up in Kansas, how his grandfather marched across Europe with Patton's army, how his grandmother worked on a WWI bomber assembly line, how his father earned a scholarship to leave Kenya and come to America. The only thing left to the imagination is whether his parents or grandparents had any pets.
Oh, yes -- and what of substance Barack Obama has actually accomplished in his political career. Besides, that is, being elected to office. We learn how old his daughters are (8 and 5) and what church he attends (Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago), but we're merely told, in one measly sentence of the ninth paragraph, that he has helped pass major measures that combat the international trafficking of nuclear weapons, promote the use of alternative fuels, and open up the budget process to greater public scrutiny. It seems a bit indelicate, but essential, to note here that all you technically have to do to help pass legislation is vote for it. I'm sure that Obama did more than that, but not too much more -- if only because any real legislative accomplishment would have to be given more detail and attention than the revelation that his father grew up herding goats with his own father. Wouldn't it?
His autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," was published in 1995,...
Okay. Maybe not.
...nine years before his keynote address electrified the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Another book, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream," has been a bestseller since it was published in October.
There's that damned speech again -- which was, I remind you, almost two-and-a-half years ago, and which was not nearly as good as most people would have you believe; after all, how much talent and charisma did it really take to upstage John Kerry at a podium? -- followed hard upon by one of those lovely best sellers. Someone call me when he gives a substantive speech about a complex political issue. Or when he writes a book entitled The Audacity of Detail: Thoughts on Articulating a Clear Political Position. Then we'll talk. Because then he'll have something worth talking about.
"This is an opportunity for a new generation of leaders to step forward to remake America," said Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois and a key Obama ally. Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), another up-and-coming black lawmaker, called Obama "the kind of unique transformational candidate who surfaces once in a generation."
Here, Senator Obama gets glowing praise from another senator from Illinois and another rising-star black politician. Hoo boy. There's some gap-bridging, country-uniting, big-tent diversity for you. All he needs now is the support of his wife and daughters, and maybe a small dog or two, and the nation's political wounds will already be healed.
Obama is expected to spend the next several weeks fundraising, with no trips to early primary or caucus states. Unlike the other candidates except Clinton, Obama should have little trouble raising the $50 million to $100 million necessary to compete in the four states -- Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina -- that will vote in January 2008.
And I quote: "Politics has become... so gummed up by money." -- Senator Barack Obama, 1/16/07.
During last year's midterm elections, Obama barnstormed the country for Democratic congressional and gubernatorial candidates, collecting more than $4.5 million for his political action committee and building up a national network of donors. He has also built support among the "Net roots" -- the loose affiliation of progressive bloggers and activists who provided much of the financing for former Vermont governor Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign.
And I quote: "Politics has become... so gummed up by money." -- Senator Barack Obama, 1/16/07.
After he was elected to the Senate, Obama vowed to serve out his term.
So much for political integrity. Or keeping your word. Or honoring your commitment to your constituents. You know -- all the things his supporters just know he'll do as president.
But he opened the door to a 2008 presidential campaign during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" in October, saying that, "given the response I've been getting," he would consider the possibility after the midterm elections.
Or perhaps the flow of money and the allure of fame and the unconditional love of uncritical people were enough to make him sell out all those things for the good of... uh... well... himself.
Of course, on that point, I suppose it sounds like he is ready to be President. Just not the kind of President he and his supporters would have you believe.
Despite all the hype about his potential candidacy, some of Obama's closest associates worry that the senator remains untested. After winning a tough Senate primary in 2004, he sailed through the general election, aided by a Republican nominee with extensive personal travails. "There will be bumps; there always are," said one senior Obama adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "He's going to have to manage expectations and show he has the strength and endurance for the long haul."
In other words: he must show that he can be a good campaigner. Not a good President, mind you, but a good campaigner. And there, in two depressing sentences, is at least half the problem with twenty-first century politics. Good campaigners get elected. People who would make good presidents do not. Call it Survivor: White House Edition.
In yesterday's statement, Obama said that his campaign will emphasize traditional Democratic goals such as lowering health-care costs, providing college-tuition assistance and developing new energy sources.
Did I suggest that Obama was short on details and specifics? I did? What the hell was I thinking?
Last week, Obama was quick to criticize [President] Bush's plan to deploy an additional 21,500 troops in Iraq, comparing the move to that of a gambler who increases his bet in a bid to cover his losses.
Which is about as politically risky as locking the barn door after the horse escaped, hopped a plane to Baghdad, served four tours of duty, got blown up by an IED, and came home in a flag-draped glue bottle that no one was allowed to see or photograph. Yes, the Senator has always been opposed to the Iraq War, but he's only become truly and persistently vocal about it in the last few months, as the mood of the country has caught up to the grim reality on the ground.
Yet he has refused to back a proposal by some Democrats to require congressional authorization before additional troops are sent to Iraq.
Walking a fine line? Or wanting his cake and eating it too? Trying to strike a delicate balance? Or burning his candle at both ends?
"We need to look at what options do we have available to constrain the president, to hopefully right the course that we are on right now, but to do so in a way that makes sure that the troops that are on the ground have all the equipment and the resources they need to fulfill their mission and come home safely," Obama said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Or -- hold on for two more clichés -- just hoping to hedge his bets and cover his ass?
In most matters before the Senate, Obama has maintained a relatively low profile, tending to home-state concerns while promoting narrow causes such as congressional ethics reform, an issue now being debated on the Senate floor.
In other words, he hasn't done anything. Except speak and travel and write books and raise lots and lots of gumming-up political money.
While Obama paints himself as a reform-minded outsider, the small group of senior advisers who will guide his campaign are longtime Washington hands.
Of course they are. Because that's the only way to get elected. But it is not, of course, any way to be an outsider. No matter how often you say you are one.
Nearly two-thirds of the Obama inner circle has political roots in the offices of then-Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) or then-Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.). His staff's long experience in state and national politics should help Obama to compensate for his lack of campaign experience. He has made only a few cursory stops in Iowa, for example, where the first votes of the presidential race are likely to be cast on Jan. 14, 2008, but he has signed up Steve Hildebrand, who ran the Iowa caucus campaign of then-Vice President Al Gore in 2000, and Paul Tewes, Hildebrand's second-in-command in that campaign.
Nor is it honest to suggest, especially as you're employing this kind of insider firepower, that you still can be an outsider. Unless by outsider you mean someone who has not yet been inside the Presidency.
In New Hampshire, Obama drew a rock-star reception during a Dec. 9 visit. Jim Demers, a longtime party activist who squired Obama around the state for the day, said that his phone has not stopped ringing since, with people seeking to work for the campaign. "People here are excited to see and hear him," said Demers, who said he may volunteer himself.
Barack Obama: Rock Star. Media Star. Campaign Star. But, so far at least, not much of a Policy Star. Nor a Legislative Star. Nor a National Leadership Star. But that's okay -- it's not like any of those sorts of stardoms are essential to being an effective and internationally respected American President.
Going so goo-goo-ga-ga over Obama, at least at this stage of the game and of his political career, is like taking the kid voted most likely to succeed in high school and, at the end of his summer internship after his sophomore year of college, tabbing him to be the CEO of your Fortune 500 company. Next year. After he's taken a couple of more business classes and brushed up on his golf swing. Sure, the kid has a lot of potential, and he may well fit the position someday, but first he oughta earn it. And deserve it. Or at least have to prove, beyond his looks and his lineage, that he can handle it.
I thought I would allow the occasion to pass without comment -- which really is the level of time and attention it deserves -- until I read Obama Jumps into Presidential Fray, a front page story in this morning's Washington Post by Shailagh Murray and Chris Cillizza, and realized that its profile of Obama and its analysis of his impending, possible, potential, somebody-say-pretty-please candidacy captures, in the space of just over 1,200 words, almost every single doubt and reservation and (who are we kidding?) deep-seated fear I have about his chances of securing the 2008 Democratic nomination.
Chief among them, of course, is the realization -- shared, it seems, by fewer and fewer rational Democrats -- that we're trying to pick a president, not a prom date. This puppy love affair with Obama, these first-blush infatuations and flirtations that so many supporters feel for him without knowing anything about him except that big smile and that sexy voice, still seem to me, as I have argued many times before, an awful lot like the Republican love affair with that straight-shootin', fortuitously named governor from Texas. And we all know how that turned out.
I realize that conventional wisdom in the Democratic Party suggests they couldn't possibly nominate, much less elect, someone less effective than our current president. But that doesn't mean they should try to test the theory. Or fail to read between the lines...
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, whose best-selling books and political travels generated huge pressure to run for the White House, joined a crowded Democratic field yesterday, vowing to advance "a different kind of politics" in a campaign that could make him the nation's first African-American president.
Sure, a different kind of politics and the nation's first African-American president sound great. Especially to Democrats grown tired of the old-school, politics-as-usual core rotting out of the administration of the nation's first Idiot-American president. But once you get past the empty (and not especially original) rhetoric and move beyond the audacity of hoping for executive diversity, you're left with a lede that can not possibly bury Obama's lack of experience and accomplishment.
Take a look at that first sentence again. Now think about it for a moment. The two most compelling and substantive examples of Obama's experience are his best-selling books and his political travels. If those are the only achievements applying pressure to the lump of coal that is his interest in the nomination, it's difficult to imagine him squeezing out a diamond of a candidacy in a little less than a year.
Obama, a state legislator just three years ago, announced that he has formed a presidential exploratory committee, accelerating his already rapid emergence in national politics and establishing him as his party's most formidable rival to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the Democratic front-runner.
A state legislator -- and a not particularly distinguished one, at that -- just three years ago. A president two years from now. Does that give pause to anyone but me? Anyone? Especially when the intervening years will have been spent not as a hard-working legislator but as a speech-giving, fund-raising, glad-handing politician who's quite possibly spent more time on photo shoots and media interviews than on writing or crafting bills.
Obama, 45, portrayed his youth and short tenure in Congress as an asset in a statement distributed via Web video and e-mail.
His youth and short tenure in national politics are assets? Is this what presidential politics -- or any kind of politics -- have become? Is this what we want them to become? Especially in an election that hopes to find a successor to one of the least knowledgeable, least effective presidents in U.S. history? Are we willing to devalue wisdom and experience even more than we already have? Enough, even, to beat them into submission with the twin cudgels of blind hope and charming potential?
Hell, let's find someone who's 35 and has never served in Congress. He'd be even better!
"Today, our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, common sense way," the senator declared. "Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions."
This from a man whose chief successes and greatest value to his party have so far been as a fundraiser. Whose best claim to the soft charms of sweet bipartisan politics is grounded in a two-and-a-half-year-old convention speech that still provides the best moments in his biographical video. And whose solutions to those big problems have so far been limited to giving empty, feel-good, ordinary-people-can-work-together-to-do-extraordinary-things speeches about them.
(Am I the only one who's bothered by the fact that, so far, everything a Barack Obama candidacy seems poised or willing to offer us is straight out of the Can't We All Just Get Along, Hold Hands, and Sing "Kumbaya" Around the Campfire Until All Our Problems Go Away playbook for liberal stereotypes? Shouldn't we at least offer up a candidate that the Rush Limbaughs and Karl Roves of the world will actually have to work up a sweat to distort and caricature? His impressive oratory not withstanding, Obama's rhetoric still hasn't progressed much beyond Jimmy Carter Meets Stuart Smalley.)
But it is Obama's ethnic profile and life story that set him apart. His late father was a black Kenyan, his mother the white daughter of a Kansas farmer. Obama was born in Hawaii, lived in Indonesia in his youth and was the first African American to be elected Harvard Law Review president.
Since books and speeches and fundraising aren't enough upon which to build a whole campaign, it makes sense, I suppose, to crack the old biography-as-hagiography political chestnut to its illogical extreme. If Obama's political story isn't compelling enough for you -- and it's not -- then we'll just warm your heart with the diversity-proud details of his heritage and his pleasantly challenged personal life.
Think I'm exaggerating? Check out the About Barack page on Obama's Presidential Exploratory Committee web site. You'll find ten paragraphs of biographical information. After the first sentence of the first paragraph (Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961.), you won't read another word about the senator until the second clause of the fourth paragraph. Nearly thirty percent of the page About Barack is actually About Barack's Parents and Grandparents: how his mother grew up in Kansas, how his grandfather marched across Europe with Patton's army, how his grandmother worked on a WWI bomber assembly line, how his father earned a scholarship to leave Kenya and come to America. The only thing left to the imagination is whether his parents or grandparents had any pets.
Oh, yes -- and what of substance Barack Obama has actually accomplished in his political career. Besides, that is, being elected to office. We learn how old his daughters are (8 and 5) and what church he attends (Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago), but we're merely told, in one measly sentence of the ninth paragraph, that he has helped pass major measures that combat the international trafficking of nuclear weapons, promote the use of alternative fuels, and open up the budget process to greater public scrutiny. It seems a bit indelicate, but essential, to note here that all you technically have to do to help pass legislation is vote for it. I'm sure that Obama did more than that, but not too much more -- if only because any real legislative accomplishment would have to be given more detail and attention than the revelation that his father grew up herding goats with his own father. Wouldn't it?
His autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," was published in 1995,...
Okay. Maybe not.
...nine years before his keynote address electrified the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Another book, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream," has been a bestseller since it was published in October.
There's that damned speech again -- which was, I remind you, almost two-and-a-half years ago, and which was not nearly as good as most people would have you believe; after all, how much talent and charisma did it really take to upstage John Kerry at a podium? -- followed hard upon by one of those lovely best sellers. Someone call me when he gives a substantive speech about a complex political issue. Or when he writes a book entitled The Audacity of Detail: Thoughts on Articulating a Clear Political Position. Then we'll talk. Because then he'll have something worth talking about.
"This is an opportunity for a new generation of leaders to step forward to remake America," said Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois and a key Obama ally. Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), another up-and-coming black lawmaker, called Obama "the kind of unique transformational candidate who surfaces once in a generation."
Here, Senator Obama gets glowing praise from another senator from Illinois and another rising-star black politician. Hoo boy. There's some gap-bridging, country-uniting, big-tent diversity for you. All he needs now is the support of his wife and daughters, and maybe a small dog or two, and the nation's political wounds will already be healed.
Obama is expected to spend the next several weeks fundraising, with no trips to early primary or caucus states. Unlike the other candidates except Clinton, Obama should have little trouble raising the $50 million to $100 million necessary to compete in the four states -- Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina -- that will vote in January 2008.
And I quote: "Politics has become... so gummed up by money." -- Senator Barack Obama, 1/16/07.
During last year's midterm elections, Obama barnstormed the country for Democratic congressional and gubernatorial candidates, collecting more than $4.5 million for his political action committee and building up a national network of donors. He has also built support among the "Net roots" -- the loose affiliation of progressive bloggers and activists who provided much of the financing for former Vermont governor Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign.
And I quote: "Politics has become... so gummed up by money." -- Senator Barack Obama, 1/16/07.
After he was elected to the Senate, Obama vowed to serve out his term.
So much for political integrity. Or keeping your word. Or honoring your commitment to your constituents. You know -- all the things his supporters just know he'll do as president.
But he opened the door to a 2008 presidential campaign during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" in October, saying that, "given the response I've been getting," he would consider the possibility after the midterm elections.
Or perhaps the flow of money and the allure of fame and the unconditional love of uncritical people were enough to make him sell out all those things for the good of... uh... well... himself.
Of course, on that point, I suppose it sounds like he is ready to be President. Just not the kind of President he and his supporters would have you believe.
Despite all the hype about his potential candidacy, some of Obama's closest associates worry that the senator remains untested. After winning a tough Senate primary in 2004, he sailed through the general election, aided by a Republican nominee with extensive personal travails. "There will be bumps; there always are," said one senior Obama adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "He's going to have to manage expectations and show he has the strength and endurance for the long haul."
In other words: he must show that he can be a good campaigner. Not a good President, mind you, but a good campaigner. And there, in two depressing sentences, is at least half the problem with twenty-first century politics. Good campaigners get elected. People who would make good presidents do not. Call it Survivor: White House Edition.
In yesterday's statement, Obama said that his campaign will emphasize traditional Democratic goals such as lowering health-care costs, providing college-tuition assistance and developing new energy sources.
Did I suggest that Obama was short on details and specifics? I did? What the hell was I thinking?
Last week, Obama was quick to criticize [President] Bush's plan to deploy an additional 21,500 troops in Iraq, comparing the move to that of a gambler who increases his bet in a bid to cover his losses.
Which is about as politically risky as locking the barn door after the horse escaped, hopped a plane to Baghdad, served four tours of duty, got blown up by an IED, and came home in a flag-draped glue bottle that no one was allowed to see or photograph. Yes, the Senator has always been opposed to the Iraq War, but he's only become truly and persistently vocal about it in the last few months, as the mood of the country has caught up to the grim reality on the ground.
Yet he has refused to back a proposal by some Democrats to require congressional authorization before additional troops are sent to Iraq.
Walking a fine line? Or wanting his cake and eating it too? Trying to strike a delicate balance? Or burning his candle at both ends?
"We need to look at what options do we have available to constrain the president, to hopefully right the course that we are on right now, but to do so in a way that makes sure that the troops that are on the ground have all the equipment and the resources they need to fulfill their mission and come home safely," Obama said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Or -- hold on for two more clichés -- just hoping to hedge his bets and cover his ass?
In most matters before the Senate, Obama has maintained a relatively low profile, tending to home-state concerns while promoting narrow causes such as congressional ethics reform, an issue now being debated on the Senate floor.
In other words, he hasn't done anything. Except speak and travel and write books and raise lots and lots of gumming-up political money.
While Obama paints himself as a reform-minded outsider, the small group of senior advisers who will guide his campaign are longtime Washington hands.
Of course they are. Because that's the only way to get elected. But it is not, of course, any way to be an outsider. No matter how often you say you are one.
Nearly two-thirds of the Obama inner circle has political roots in the offices of then-Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) or then-Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.). His staff's long experience in state and national politics should help Obama to compensate for his lack of campaign experience. He has made only a few cursory stops in Iowa, for example, where the first votes of the presidential race are likely to be cast on Jan. 14, 2008, but he has signed up Steve Hildebrand, who ran the Iowa caucus campaign of then-Vice President Al Gore in 2000, and Paul Tewes, Hildebrand's second-in-command in that campaign.
Nor is it honest to suggest, especially as you're employing this kind of insider firepower, that you still can be an outsider. Unless by outsider you mean someone who has not yet been inside the Presidency.
In New Hampshire, Obama drew a rock-star reception during a Dec. 9 visit. Jim Demers, a longtime party activist who squired Obama around the state for the day, said that his phone has not stopped ringing since, with people seeking to work for the campaign. "People here are excited to see and hear him," said Demers, who said he may volunteer himself.
Barack Obama: Rock Star. Media Star. Campaign Star. But, so far at least, not much of a Policy Star. Nor a Legislative Star. Nor a National Leadership Star. But that's okay -- it's not like any of those sorts of stardoms are essential to being an effective and internationally respected American President.
Going so goo-goo-ga-ga over Obama, at least at this stage of the game and of his political career, is like taking the kid voted most likely to succeed in high school and, at the end of his summer internship after his sophomore year of college, tabbing him to be the CEO of your Fortune 500 company. Next year. After he's taken a couple of more business classes and brushed up on his golf swing. Sure, the kid has a lot of potential, and he may well fit the position someday, but first he oughta earn it. And deserve it. Or at least have to prove, beyond his looks and his lineage, that he can handle it.
Posted: Wed - January 17, 2007 at 05:11 PM
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