Barack And Roll
Michael Barone asks a rather obvious question about all the Obamania going on these days. Is the media feeding frenzy justified? Does Barack Obama have the experience to be an effective president? He seems a nice enough man and he does seem to project a somewhat less partisan image than has been the norm since 1993. But is that enough of a set of credentials?
Obamamania seems to be the political flavor of the month. Illinois freshman Sen. Barack Obama drew crowds of 3,000 in New Hampshire — more than candidates usually pull in the last weekend before the primary. He has appeared not only on "Meet the Press" but also on "Monday Night Football." His announcement that he was thinking about running for president seems to have prompted Hillary Rodham Clinton's moves to kick her candidacy into gear.
Pollster Scott Rasmussen shows him getting 17 percent of the primary vote to Clinton's 34 percent, with no other candidate in double digits. Rasmussen has Obama getting favorable ratings from 52 percent of all voters, 2 percent more than Clinton, and unfavorable ratings from 33 percent, 15 percent less. All this for a man who was almost totally unknown to voters when he stood up in July 2004 to deliver the keynote at the Democratic National Convention.
You only have to watch the video of that speech again to realize why Obama has impressed so many Americans.
There is clearly a demand in the political marketplace for candidates who can rise above the bitter partisanship that has dominated our politics since Bill Clinton took office in 1993. That partisanship has been bitter in part because Clinton and George W. Bush — both born in the leadoff baby boom year of 1946 — happen to have personal characteristics that Americans on opposite sides of the cultural divide absolutely loathe. And it has been bitter because the demographic factor most highly correlated with voting behavior is religion and degree of religious devotion — which is to say, people with deeply held moral views. Too many people have come to regard the views of the other side as not only wrong, but evil.
Obama has been getting the rock star treatment in the press. Part of that is undoubtedly the prospect of a fresh face to write about. But Obama is pretty light on the experience. Is being a fresh face enough to warrant trusting him with the most important job in this country? As Barone points out, not even Obama seems to know the answer to that question. Unfortunately, neither to the voters. And all the Barack and roll hoopla isn't really giving us any answers, just some nice glitz and glamor but few real answers. The main attraction seems to be that Obama isn't Hillary. Clinton has baggage, Obama is almost a blank slate.
UPDATE: John Fund over at the Opinion Journal says he is not at all sure Obama will run at all. And that may be the most brilliant move he could make.
In addition to all the consultants who are urging him to run, Mr. Obama has other advisers who are telling him that at age 45 he can afford to wait. He also could easily find himself on the top of her list of potential running mates. "A Clinton-Obama ticket would be the most powerful turnout machine you can imagine for the Democratic base in 2008," one Democratic congressman who knows both of them told me. "He might be better positioned to be president if he first ran for vice president. If Hillary won, he would be the heir apparent. If she lost, no one would blame him for that."
For all the disappointment the national media might express at an Obama noncandidacy, he could marshal his rhetorical skills and deliver a superb speech that would deepen his long-term appeal to the electorate.
Imagine how refreshing it would be if he bowed out of the race for now, saying: "For every thing there is a season. I believe I am qualified to be president. But I think the country would be better served if I break with normal political ambition and for now devote myself to listening, learning and becoming the most effective senator for Illinois I can be. In other words, I have decided not to succumb to the hype that others are busy creating around me. That's for Hollywood, not for the serous business of running a country in troubled and dangerous times. I appreciate all the attention, but I would like to have more of a conversation with the American people before asking them to entrust me with that grave responsibility. That conversation is better conducted for now outside the media glare of a presidential campaign. Let the dialogue begin."
By Rightmom, Monday, 18 December , 2006 @ 8:01 am
Barack Hussein Obama is just the Howard Dean of 2008 he will burn out even more quickly. Do not expect him to be the flavor of the MSM when the real candidate Hillary Clinton starts running.