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Political Acumen Amen:

By Henri - Posted on 10 February 2009

Or Now That We Have A Leader Can We Learn How to Follow?

Watching Obama play with the ideas that summon up a press corpse in these fractious times is fun. Never mind that journalism is dying as the newspapers gasp for money and advertising. Never mind that even the mindlessness of the Super Bowl was not quite the commercial success for the TV producers involved this year. Just enjoy the fact that just for one shining moment someone answered questions for serious people who really want to hear answers. And one hell of a lot of us watched him do it.

Oh sure there was some spin, but there were also some answers. Answers to complex questions are, well, complex. It was also interesting that he thought some before giving those answers. The Pres and the Press may not have a love affair going but he romanced them last night and it worked. I expect to see a lot more of those kind of shows over the next year or two. They sell well and the audience is desperately interested.

The Stimulus Package was the main event but other issues were also raised and answered. Some of the answers were couched in nice ways of saying, “I don’t know yet.” That will work if he gets back to us on those issues and he will. This is no politician any of us alive have seen for a very long time, if ever. He is all about building a consensus that includes members from both parties. It just may not include members of Congress until we make it clear that we want them to support Obama. That will take a couple more elections if I am right. The Republicans are still fighting the last war.

He called on the Huffington Post. He called on Helen. He called on Cable TV representatives. He spread his attention around that room like honey on toast. It soaked in and everyone became sweeter by the end of that hour. I have seen nothing like that in my lifetime. It was slightly reminiscent of John Kennedy but not that much. JFK was a button down Harvard type with visions of aristocracy dancing in his brain. Obama is Harvard enough, but he is a lot more folksy and reachable.

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