barak obama

I’ve been skeptical and critical of the Obama campaign, but I must admit I’m pleased to see the movement they’ve germinated really taking root and driving them ahead. With another three primary wins under their belt tonight, and the upcoming state of Wisconsin — once though to be a “showdown” — now trending towards another decisive victory:

Clinton’s campaign is going to be up against a March 4th last-stand having won nothing in a month. Ohio and Texas are still favorable, but will they really buck the big O’mo for three more weeks?

And this is undeniably cool:

410,000 individual donors. A lot of those are $5 from people at a rally or online, but the breadth of the buy-in is pretty spectacular. This is what political junkies have talked about for a long time. The fact that they candidate to pull it off is an political cypher beloved by a decrepit establishment is a little bit of a surprise, but it does seem that Obama and his team have manages to pull off the big task: building a grassroots movement while simultaniously charming the pants off the national media.

Barring any major shakeups not in their favor (e.g. not more people quitting the Clinton campaign) I think the Obama gang should be able to ride through March 4th to enough of a delegate lead that a superdelegate choke-out is no longer socially possible. Mathematically it’s always an option, but most of these superdelegates have a pretty high profile, and they have a strong tradition of following the popular will.

This is exceedingly clever work:

Barak Obama is an excellent performer, on par with Reagan and Clinton before him. He's got a lot of people who are quite excited about him running for the White House in 2008, and he would most likely make a great and interesting candidate. However, I find that I distrust him.

Why? Because he's a cypher, in his own words "a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." What leads to my distrust is not that he's unwilling to take a stand on any issue of substance, or that he has a habit of reiterating right-wing stereotypes about Democrats -- although those are annoying -- it's that he's deliberately and consciously crafting himself as a vessel for unfulfilled political desire, a non-reciprocating repository for the Public's most heartfelt hopes. I find it impossible to believe that this is not a matter of calculation, and I find it to be quite a turn-off.

In essence, his position amounts to "I'm Barak Obama, and I endorse my popularity, and want to support your belief in me to do Good Things." It's a smart, risk-averse tactic to take for now, and he's perhaps a convincing enough player to pull it off through most of the pre-primary heat. As I said, an Obama for President campaign would be a sure hummdinger, but I find this makes me nervous and pessimistic about his potential as a leader. I don't want yet another actor president.