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I'm not sick. But I'm not finding much to write about today. Like the majority of Americans, I'm enthusiastic about President Elect Barack Obama. If anything was apparent from the talking heads this morning, it was the fact that even Republican thinkers are happy Obama was elected.
Newsweek has a great series of articles on the election. It seems the McCain campaign, like Hillary's campaign, was done in by infighting which he couldn't handle. Neither McCain nor Hillary had managerial experience to start with. Maybe that wouldn't have mattered once their prospective White Houses were in place, but their lack of experience in this regard did them in. Obama, on the other hand, assembled and worked with one of the best organized campaigns in history. The campaign and Obama made very, very few mistakes.
One thing that seems clear: Obama has a Reaganesque or Kennedyesque talent for inpsiring people. This seems to be less a skill than a matter of who he is. He is also extremely intelligent, impeccably organized, and in spite of his relatively short political career, a capable manager. Obama is the whole package.
Obama had reservations about running for President. Perhaps because he had grown up without a father, an issue he has spoken about to black audiences, he wasn't sure he wanted to subject his family to a Presidential campaign or life in the White House. Unlike The Worst President Ever, he's not likely to be a 9 to 5 President who spends Sundays choking on pretzels and watching football on teleivions. He's evidently a family man who likes to spend time with his family, and he wasn't going to run without Michelle Obama's agreement. Newsweek reports:
It wasn't as if it was a slam-dunk for me... I think part of the reason she agreed to do it was because she knew that she had veto power, that she and the girls ultimately mattered more than my own ambitions in this process, and if she said no we would be OK."
If you're interested in politics, or just interested in the stories and people behind this election, go to Newsweek and check out the articles. They are very readable and worth your time.
--Mb
