What is being said about Obama, by friends and opponents alike, was said about John Kennedy when he was president. Too aloof, too much head and not enough heart, a manager but not a leader. Eloquence gets tiresome when it doesn't set people on fire, and he should live up to his own stirring language. Suddenly, Kennedy was gone, and he seemed lovable, warm, a member of the family, and of course he had been right all along.
Obama's State of the Union tonight was superb--he knows his Lincoln--and it is always thrilling to see a man actually thinking on a live telecast. The conversational tone towards the end had to attract every ear: he spoke as a friend or family lawyer giving his somewhat slow clients the straight talk they are resistant to hear.
My point here is that Barack Obama, as exceptional presidents always are, will be gone before we know it, and then the great period of catch-up to what he was all about begins with the people. How much better it is to pay close attention now and see the fight he is in, and, in sensitive response, join him.
It all ends suddenly.
1 comment:
I think the session with the Republicans at their annual retreat set a new tone and showed the way forward. Obama can take them on and beat them. He simply must do it for the sake of the nation. Ronald Reagan was good at the exchange, and he didn't have half as much going on intellectually. That's the change I believe in - actual intellectual engagement on the major issues of our time.
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