I Like Obama As Much As Francesca Used To Like Dora

I'm more impressed with Obama right now than I ever have before. He's still got the idealist allure, but no one's calling him naive or a lightweight any more. He's has the calculating strategy of the Clintons without the ego. He's still the change candidate, but is now viewed as savy enough to ward off the "kid" label. He's respected in a way that he wasn't during the primaries. McCain being a terrible candidate helps, but part of McCain's problem is that he's being compared to a candidate who's being increasingly viewed as substantial.

Tacking to the right immediately after getting the nomination, by giving a speech on patriotism and endorsing faith-based programs, was a calculated effort to make him less threatening to the right, and it worked. But if you look at Obama's positions, he's been consistent throughout. It's more likely that the country has moved to the left.

His an op-ed in the NYTimes outlining a plan to get out of Iraq seems completely reasonable, and no one's presented anything against it. If anything, Obama's plan to get us out, pragmatically flexible, is the national consensus. Obama has nullified the fact that McCain supported the surge. By conceding that the surge worked, he is able to argue that we should therefore be able to leave, like we were promised before the surge.

Obama's biggest problem is that he has no support for his alleged new politics. Politicians in Washington wonder why, if Obama is so eager to cross party lines, he didn't do so during his time in the senate. It's a good point, but if you're gonna take a chance, this is guy to do it with.

Best Obama joke so far goes to The Onion: "Black Guys Asks Nation For Change."