The Obama difference-at ease with himself

babylonsister

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Thu Apr-03-08 04:32 PM
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The Obama difference-at ease with himself

X-post from Eds., just because I liked this.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/04/03/obama/

The Obama difference

Unlike most presidential Dems in recent memory, the Illinois senator is at ease with himself -- even while bowling gutter balls in Pennsylvania.

By Walter Shapiro

Reuters/Tim Shaffer

Sen. Barack Obama speaking Wednesday at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia.

April 3, 2008 | PHILADELPHIA -- "I've been running now for 15 months," Barack Obama would announce with a whiff of weary wonder in his voice at virtually every stop on his just-completed six-day Pennsylvania bus trip. Then the Democratic front-runner would add the punch line that underscored the absurdity of this presidential marathon: "Which means that there are babies that have been born and now are walking and talking."

Fifteen months from now -- if his luck holds -- President Obama will be nearing his half-year mark in the Oval Office. Which means -- if presidential history is any guide -- that the fledgling president will already have survived a contentious confirmation battle over a top appointee, signed a major piece of domestic legislation and weathered an unanticipated foreign crisis.

Yes, we are rather cavalierly dismissing formidable obstacles named Hillary Clinton and John McCain. But so much of the current campaign dialogue is fixated on the ephemeral (the latest Pennsylvania polls, the latest fracas over 3 a.m. phone calls) that it is easy to forget that the presidency will test Obama -- or either of his two rivals -- in ways that we cannot now imagine. Sometimes in the midst of a campaign (especially during slow news weeks), there is merit in stepping back and trying to envision a would-be president like Obama in a new light.

snip//

At almost every rally, some true believer shouts out in the middle of Obama's speech, "I love you." And each time, the candidate responds with just the slightest wisp of irritation over the interruption as he says, "I love you back." It is a small thing, rarely noticed. But buried within this exchange of affection is the sense that Obama has perhaps a healthy detachment from his own charismatic appeal.

Despite the 15 months on the campaign trail, Obama -- like any presidential candidate before he or she stands bathed in confetti at his or her party's convention -- is still a work in progress. Some of the strands of his Pennsylvania campaign will soon be abandoned and forgotten. (But not the bowling.) Others may produce themes that will be repeated in TV commercials all through the fall campaign, if Obama is indeed the Democratic nominee. That is what the campaign trail is -- a constant process of trial and error. But Obama, who had just won his Senate primary in Illinois at this time four years ago, remains the candidate who has displayed the fastest learning curve in recent political memory.