Obama

Barbara O'Brien at Mahablog has an excellent commentary on the way the MSM is spinning Obama's relationship with the left blogosphere. Obviously, people like Joe Klein and Dean Barnett, who might, after serious coaching, be able to construct an intelligent piece of writing if they worked together, never read blogs. The reality of the situation, as O'Brien points out, is simply thus:

The truth is, our greatest fear is that Barack Obama will turn out to be another Hillary Clinton — all centrist caution and status quo bias. (Note that Clinton now is attacking Obama for being too liberal.”)

I've been hearing about how inspiring Obama is as a speaker, but then so was Ronald Reagan, who was, mythology aside, at best a mediocre president (although he, unlike the present incumbent, had the wit to raise taxes when his tax cuts didn't work). the problem is, he may be charismatic as hell, but his message isn't. It's more of the same, sugar-coated. He's not particularly progressive, as Ezra Klein points out:

On the down side, some of his closing-weeks attacks are a bit, err, worrisome. Going after trial lawyers, for instance? Flooding the radio with ads claiming “Clinton would force people to buy insurance even if they can’t afford it” and “Barack Obama will cover everyone”? Suggesting that nominating Al Gore was a mistake and suggesting, wrongly, that Kerry was a divisive figure when he was nominated? Some of those statements are simply conservative arguments being uttered by a progressive. Some simply aren’t true.

Granted, politics is working here, in a tough primary race, but add to Klein's list the Donnie McClurkin debacle, and you see why I'm lukewarm. We really don't need Democrats parroting Republican talking points. We have enough of those in Congress.

The new tack seems to be hauling out Obama's record in the Illinois legislature. Look, he was not high profile. Yes, he got some fundamental laws passed that should have been no-brainers. But that's the point -- they were no-brainers, and if our legislature weren't so completely dysfunctional (and I don't think that's all bad), they would have been enacted ages ago.

I'm still lukewarm.