On President Obama
Met Barack Obama last night. John McCain as well. Nominee name-dropping aside, I bring no particular insight to the big temperament question so much in vogue this week (it rivals the Joe Sixpack-Plumber chimera for lazy pack journalism meme). Both men were unfailingly polite in the reception line at the Waldorf, greeting a sea of glittery gowns and penguin suits with kind professionalism - just as they showed their comic delivery chops an hour later, delivering the requisite one-liners from the dais at the annual Al Smith dinner and reeling in the big bi-partisan yucks. I'm a total sucker for this stuff, for the tableau of political rivals scattered in white tie and tails across the ballroom, seemingly united for a dinner of good cheer and Crosby-Hope digs and banter (though it was the Dorothy Lamour of this two-year road show who got the loudest cheer last night - Hillary Clinton really has ascended to some other level of political stardom).
No chills ran down my leg as I chatted briefly about our year of collegiate overlap on Morningside Heights with the ascendant 44th President of the United States. No magic passed between us. He seemed like a nice guy, a bit tired and perhaps a notch out of his comfort zone standing next to the Archbishop of New York in a rented old school get-up straight out of Golddiggers of 1933. It was a situation that cried out for William Powell, but he's been dead since the year after Obama graduated from Columbia - where, I can now reveal in an exclusive My Dirty Life & Times report, the young Obama had a hard time getting campus housing as a transfer student and enjoyed sitting on the steps near Alma Mater on sunny days. Or so he said, as Governor Patterson piped in about his time at Columbia in the mid-70s and we all moved on, the line churning as these things are apt to do.
No, the meet-and-greet was nice but my Obama moment came earlier in the week - a week that witnessed Barack Obama's finest performance in a presidential debate over these last two long years. Oh, I know the pundits don't agree. Many scored the Hofstra tilt for John McCain, and others called it a draw. Obama, they seemed to complain, was cool and careful and distant.
To which I shout: "exactly!"
While the silly season of desperation GOP flea-flickers unfolds around us, from crazy talk at Palin rallies to the insane belief that William Ayers or the ACORN scandal will somehow arise to sink the Obama candidacy, the Democratic standard-bearer sticks to the game plan: a much better play from scrimmage that consists of a winning trench war and moving the ball down the field. Obama has taken to wearing a bemused look at some of the craziness. And when I saw his reaction to some of McCain's scattered buckshot a1t Hofstra, a bell went off. The guy is enjoying himself. He sees the humor in it. And the pressure doesn't sway the actor on the stage. My kind of president.
Obama also knows this: he carried the ball to midfield and beyond in this long race. But events outside of his control have changed the entire playing field over the last few weeks. The imploding economy and looming years-long recession have destroyed the last arguments for the kind of "conservatism" that has largely ruled American political life since Reagan: that is to say, deficit spending and tax breaks for the rich and powerful tethered to nasty and dividing social issues.
Ben Smith had a post a few days back that went largely unremarked upon, but I think it might contain one of the most insightful emails of the entire cycle. Ben got this little missive from a veteran Republican political operative:
Reagan Dems and Independents. Call them blue-collar plus. Slightly more Target than Walmart.
Yes, the spot worked. Yes, they believed the charges against Obama. Yes, they actually think he's too liberal, consorts with bad people and WON'T BE A GOOD PRESIDENT...but they STILL don't give a f***. They said right out, "He won't do anything better than McCain" but they're STILL voting for Obama.The two most unreal moments of my professional life of watching focus groups:
54 year-old white male, voted Kerry '04, Bush '00, Dole '96, hunter, NASCAR fan...hard for Obama said: "I'm gonna hate him the minute I vote for him. He's gonna be a bad president. But I won't ever vote for another god-damn Republican. I want the government to take over all of Wall Street and bankers and the car companies and Wal-Mart run this county like we used to when Reagan was President."
The next was a woman, late 50s, Democrat but strongly pro-life. Loved B. and H. Clinton, loved Bush in 2000. "Well, I don't know much about this terrorist group Barack used to be in with that Weather guy but I'm sick of paying for health insurance at work and that's why I'm supporting Barack."
I felt like I was taking crazy pills. I sat on the other side of the glass and realized...this really is the Apocalypse. The Seventh Seal is broken and its time for eight years of pure, delicious crazy....
The Seventh Seal is broken. Very poetic for a Rovian. Yet it's just about right. And Obama's cool and conservative offense is on the verge of more than covering the spread. He may just run up the score and relegate the other side to a lower division for a generation or so.
UPDATE: Ben posts Racists for Obama, more notes from the field suggesting the old order is fading and that true economic interest is being reweighted by voters who are otherwise socially reluctant about a guy like Obama.
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You had two years of collegiate overlap on Morningside Heights. Better call him back to talk about the other one.
While you're at it, why don't you call McCain to talk about the swift-boat style ad your site is running on him?
Posted by: Tom K | October 20, 2008 at 09:38 AM
On further review of the McCain link, I owe an apology . . . to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Posted by: Tom K | October 20, 2008 at 09:44 AM
Cripes, the economy had to be comnpletely flushed down the toilet before these peebles got a coherent thought - and that thought is - OH MY, IT IS VERY BAD FOR ME!
This roller coaster diet of binge and purge is really bad for the health - and the only thing to break the cycle is a totally empty fridge.
Anybody up for a game called "Bread lines are fun"?
Posted by: Judith | October 20, 2008 at 01:05 PM