The weirdest of political creatures is the sad soul who cannot fight hard, but then go have a beer with his political opponent. Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neil, then the Speaker of the House, were happy to share jokes after jousting with each other over public policy.
If Senator Obama needs my vote to win, he is in trouble. I don’t think he is qualified to be president and do not agree with him on most of the major issues, but that does not mean I have to dislike the guy. Following the Reagan-O’Neil example, here are five likable things about Senator Obama even if you are not going to vote for him.
Senator Obama is an outstanding speaker. If we have to listen to the fellow for four years, at least it will be easy to do. He speaks in paragraphs and not just sound bites. At his best he is a better orator than we have seen since Reagan.
We can only hope he finds his Peggy Noonan soon since the Senator isn’t well served by his current speech writers whose keyboards are stuck on hope-and-change. As it is Obama is Demosthenes handed a Bob-the-Builder transcript.
Senator Obama is smart and gives thoughtful answers to questions. When Senator Obama attacks a position, he knows the target. Sometimes Obama can summarize the other side better than his opponent.
He listens to his opponents so well that he catches opponents off guard. They sometimes think he has agreed with more of their position than he has, but Senator Obama cannot be blamed if most of his interlocutors have only rarely met an intellectually curious politician.
Senator Obama is comfortable talking to people who don’t agree with him. In addition to intellectual curiosity, Obama is comfortable is discussions with people not part of his entourage. His willingness to go to Saddleback Church is a good example.
Early in the primary campaign when the money was less and the groupies fewer, Obama appeared more relaxed, more willing to be self-deprecating, and less insulated from other points of view. Here is hoping that Senator Obama didn’t take the weirdly worshipful You-Tubes of some of his followers seriously.
Senator Obama passed up easy wealth to serve the nation. Back when political success and power were no certainty, the young Obama decided on a career of public service.
He obviously had an easier and more certain path to wealth and power than politics. Now that he may be the President of the United States it is easy to forget that serving in the state legislature was not obviously going to get a young African-American to the White House.
We should be glad that men like Senator Obama are still attracted to office.
Senator Obama has a fabulous marriage and family. He is a great role model for family values.
During the JFK era, the old Dick Van Dyke Show made living in the suburbs look cool, at least almost. When the character played by Mary Tyler Moore defended her “beloved suburbs,” millions cheered. The Obama campaign with the visuals of his family is like a real life Dick Van Dyke Show shot in the arm for modern family life in one’s forties.
With his easy grace, Senator Obama makes parenthood, marriage, and being forty-something look good. What isn’t there to like about that?
Sadly, we live in an imperfect world so that such a worthy candidate also has ideas and experience that make him unqualified for the office he seeks.