Campaign 2008: September 2009 Archives

I don't pretend to be an objective journalist. I'm an opinionated commentator. Not a movement or party activist like some political commentators, but an unobjective, biased analyst nonetheless.

My biases have been pro-Obama, but I'm concerned about the arrogance that he's been exhibiting in recent months, a "l'etat, c'est moi" hubris that seems to keep him from grasping why his numbers are falling.

I saw John McCain having a very warm, civilized conversation with Conan O'Brien last night about the need for finding bipartisan approaches to healthcare and other issues. McCain also praised Ted Kennedy's ability to model an ability to reach across the table.

Frankly, that sort of conversation should be led by Obama, not by a comedian. Obama may be too full of himself to grasp that a large number of Americans can be predisposed to think of him as "not one of us," either as a foreign-born Muslim or a Marxist or a just plain elitist pointy-head Ivy Leaguer.

He promised to lead all of the US, not just the blue sections, and he needs to start leading. That includes less deference to the party's most liberal elements, who will only get the party exiled yet again if they move too far too fast.

As for his public image, he should take the time to engage publicly with those who respectfully disagree, in order to eclipse the images of the gun-toting wackos who disrespectfully disagree. Is his ego too large to live up to that campaign promise? I don't think so. Though his sense of self is grand, he still seems a pragmatist above all.

But if he keeps using televised addresses to convince the American people through solely his own charisma that the deficit won't be swollen by his programs, he'll continue to stagnate in coming months.