The attraction of Obama

First my thoughts on Obama's jumping out of public financing. Hypocrisy reigns on all sides. Just like Mike Gravel's stuttering about being beholden to the special interests, McCain's rebuke to Obama is a function of the fact that he can't raise more than $85M after he's nominated. If he could, he'd drop out too! Meanwhile Obama has to pretend that public financing is still a good thing. I wish he'd just express how much more healthy it is to get the government out of regulating political speech by having exciting candidates like him and Hillary. Of course, Hillary followed the Bush-bundler model, and Obama's network of small contributors makes him much less dependent upon special interests. So much better and more participatory.

Those who pay attention know the misreporting on this topic--McCain staying in does not mean he's limited to spending only the $85M, but rather than he has to stop raising money on September 4 (when he's nominated) and the government cuts him the 85 mill, which he uses on top of everything he raised up to then.

Anyway, Obama won the reporting I thought, which inevitably feature what a successful fund-raiser he is, in contrast to McCain. Why is Obama so attractive to people?

I had a discussion with a friend who related to me how his grandfather, a longtime Republican, is infatuated with Obama.

One reason I think is his comfort within his own skin. He is a very careful, very cautious and calculating politician. He lacks a record, so is able to define himself in ambiguous terms leading people to read in their own desires into him. I've talked about this before. But he also exudes a comfort with who he is. Bill Clinton, with a much more empathetic political style than Obama, was the same. Hillary was not. She lacked the fluidity of style which masked her husbands chameleon-like nature, and people saw through her. Obama is still opaque.

I saw one clip a couple weeks ago of Obama walking across a stage. He seems so natural. In command, not stiff, not uncomfortable, yet not arrogant. That few seconds exhibited Obama's political strength to me more than any long-winded speech ever could. He looks presidential. He's tall and good-looking.

And his lack of empathy and inability to connect, it seems, with Appalachia, which would be so damaging under normal circumstances, might be a strength now. It's a scary time ahead for American voters. Someone who is serious like Obama might be more appealing for the time. In the 1990s Americans took a "break from history." The Cold War was over, the tech bubble was on the horizon, a Democratic president from the South who made us feel good and felt our pain was a good fit.

But we'll see. Obama is lucky lucky to be running against McCain, rather than against someone who can empathize more effectively than him, and has a better sense of humor (Huckster). McCain is an arrogant hothead, and I'd be surprised if that did not come out, with occasional flashes of the McCain temper making it a media item.