Barack Obama: too much, too soon... much too soon

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Barack Obama says all the right things. I even believe he believes what he says; in other words he seems to be a real liberal and not a "brown Blair". It also appears that he has got the brains and even the "world view" necessary to be fabulous President of the United States... but not yet. Just like in boxing, in government, bringing along a hot, young prospect too quickly can ruin them. If elected in 2008 he would become president having even less administrative experience in government then George W. Bush did in the year 2000. Bush, after all, had been the governor of complex, major state. It would be better for Obama to finish his term in the US Senate, which establishes his voting record on all the major national issues and then get elected governor of Illinois and to run that complex state, with its mixture of urban and rural problems and huge budget successfully for two terms. Then Obamamania would not be some self-indulgent, American, "feel good" fad, but a serious, transformational political movement. He might actually make a great president. Running him now would be like taking the young Muhammad Ali straight from his gold medal win in the 1960 Rome Olympics and feeding him directly to Sonny Liston. George Will, an extraordinarily intelligent, well read, paleo-conservative pundit, who opposes everything Obama stands for and has everything to fear if he succeeds, is urging him to run. Obviously Will finds Obama a liberal nightmare and wants him to fail and to disappear. That should be a clear enough signal. DS

Phil Weiss over at New York Observer has some very perceptive things to say about the 'Obama fever', which I've taken the liberty to underline:

"The Obama boom is the American way of turning the corner. The hero-worship Barack Obama experienced in N.H. and the endless references to JFK are, as the senator said, not about him, they're about us. It's a spiritual reclamation. Americans like to think of themselves as idealists, yet our country has been dragged in the moral mud for years by this filthy war. The neocons can talk forever about the necessity to knock off Middle East heads of state as a sniper takes out a hostage-taker (Perle & Frum); but Americans don't like to think of themselves as the authors of assassination, devastation, disease, emigration, etc. They want to think of the world in more hopeful ways. That's what Obama is all about, reimagining the U.S. as a country that embraces progress and idealism. More power to him. READ IT ALL