Is That Legal?

he was polling fourth or fifth in a field of six in the Democratic primary for Senate early in 2004. He was so unknown that he held an event in Washington that was free, and held in a basement meeting room with about 15 people - he just wanted to meet some people. I talked to him for just a few minutes and joined right up with his campaign and told everybody that he would win. By any reading of the polls, or the conventional wisdom about Illinois politics, that was an absurd thing to believe. But I believed it, as did many others, often for reasons that were difficult to articulate. For me, it wasn't because of his prodigious political skills or his winning personality, but because of the way he talks about America - he has a notion of American community that is broad and accessible to people of most any political stripe. I am cynical about politicians, but there is something special going on with this guy; he is a liberal that conservatives can like and respect, and a few will even vote for him. All of this is married to a keen political instinct, and yesterday's announcement surely won't harm sales of his new book, The Audacity of Hope . Obama's rhetoric is remarkable mainly in its insistence on the premise that there is some common ground among Americans, and that we can make progress in the areas where "red" and "blue" overlap. This is not something any consultant told him to do. It's almost a reflex with him, and if you read his autobiography you see that he came by it honestly. He comes from Kenyans and Kansans. His own family is diverse in every way, not just racially, but geographicaly, economically. That background is a metaphor (not always explicit) is his speeches and his writing. It appeals to people who are tired of all the contention-for-its-own-sake in our politics. It's the reason my mother (in her '80s) calls him "that nice young man." Obama is well to the left of Mark Warner; certainly left of Bayh, but he will fill some of the space left by Warner, who shared with him a moderation in his way of doing politics.

So if he runs, or merely flirts with running, he will pull our politics in a healthy direction. The reasons for him not to run are plain: too young, no executive experience; young kids at home. In pure poiltical terms, another word for experience is "baggage." Senators cast votes year after year on controversial issues, issues that can be twisted in 30 second spot. It's no surprise that the last Senator to reach the White House was young, inexperienced John Kennedy. And Obama can see that if he doesn't go now, he may not have another chance for many years, if ever. For two years, everybody has been telling him he can do it. He may believe them; they may be right. He may feel the weight of history, pushing him just as hard as Oprah. It will be fun.

So what do you think?