Obama Possibly Thinking He Might Run for President, Maybe

Barack Obama made it official today. It's seemed obvious since his book came out (was it a book tour or a presidential campaign?), but he told Russert on Meet the Press this morning that the door was open to his running. What does it mean? Well, he won't be quite as coy (though there's still a whole lot of coy between now and an actual announcement), and other potential candidates will have to take his potential candidacy into account in making their own decisions (although that's not to say they weren't already).

My opinion hasn't really changed. There's no denying that he's very charismatic, but that seems to be about all anybody's got to say about him. Joe Klein wrote a huge Time cover story last week under the tag "Why Barack Obama Could Be The Next President," but all he really offered was that Obama attracts huge, enthusiastic crowds and seems to be a pretty middle-of-the-road guy.

Maureen Dowd also wrote about the current wave of Obamamania yesterday, criticizing his high profile and low content, closing her column with the question: "Does Barack Obama want to be a celebrity or a man of history — or is there no longer any difference?"

Frank Rich, who we usually quote at length on Sundays, examines Obama, as well, using his headline to offer a warning: "Obama Is Not a Miracle Elixir." But despite that title, Rich seems like he's already on the bandwagon:

Enter Barack Obama. To understand the hysteria about a Democratic senator who has not yet served two years and is mainly known for a single speech at the 2004 convention, you have to appreciate just how desperate the Democrats are for a panacea for all their ills. In the many glossy cover articles about Obamamania, the only real suspense is whether a Jack or Bobby Kennedy analogy will be made in the second paragraph or the fifth. Men's Vogue (cover by Annie Leibovitz) went so far as to say that the Illinois senator "alone has the potential to one day be mentioned in the same breath" as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. Why not throw in Mark Twain and Sammy Davis Jr.?

This is a lot to put on the shoulders of anyone, even someone as impressive as Mr. Obama. Though he remains a modest and self-effacing guy from all appearances, he is encouraging the speculation about seeking higher office — and not as a coy Colin Powell-style maneuver to sell his new book, "The Audacity of Hope." Mr. Obama hasn't been turning up in Iowa for the corn dogs. He consistently concedes he’s entertaining the prospect of a presidential run.

There's no reason to rush that decision now, but it's a no-brainer. Of course he should run, assuming his family is on the same page. He's 45, not 30, and his slender résumé in public office (which also includes seven years as a state senator) should be no more of an impediment to him than it was to the White House's current occupant. As his Illinois colleague Dick Durbin told The Chicago Tribune last week, "I said to him, 'Do you really think sticking around the Senate for four more years and casting a thousand more votes will make you more qualified for president?'" Instead, such added experience is more likely to transform an unusually eloquent writer, speaker and public servant into another windbag like Joe Biden.

Rich gives lip service to one of Obama's shortcomings--his perceived overly cautious nature--but then points out that Obama has been against the Iraq War from the beginning. Apparently that's enough win him over. Here's his final paragraph:

The Democrats may well win on Election Day this year. But one of their best hopes for long-term viability in the post-Bush era is that Barack Obama steps up and changes the party before the party of terminal timidity and equivocation changes him.

Since we're already behind The New York Times's subscription curtain anyway (thanks to donkey o.d.), why don't we take a look at Frank Herbert's Monday column. Herbert interviewed Obama at the John F. Kennedy Library on Friday night, and he reports the same enthusiastic crowds.

It's a measure of how starved the country is for a sensible, appealing, intelligent, trustworthy leader that a man who until just a couple of years ago was an obscure state senator in Illinois is now suddenly, in the view of an awful lot of voters, the person we should install in the White House.

But Herbert, clearly impressed with Obama, adds a word of caution, as well.

With all due respect to Senator Obama, this is disturbing. He may be capable of being a great president. Someday. But one quick look around at the state of the nation and the world tells us that we need to be more careful than we have been in selecting our leaders. There shouldn’t be anything precipitous about the way we pick our presidents.

. . .
The giddiness surrounding the Obama phenomenon seems to be an old-fashioned mixture of fun, excitement and a great deal of hope. His smile is electric, and when he laughs people tend to laugh with him. He's the kind of politician who makes people feel good.

But the giddiness is crying out for a reality check. There's a reason why so many Republicans are saying nice things about Mr. Obama, and urging him to run. They would like nothing more than for the Democrats to nominate a candidate in 2008 who has a very slender résumé, very little experience in national politics, hardly any in foreign policy — and who also happens to be black.

The Republicans may be in deep trouble, but they believe they could pretty easily put together a ticket that would chew up Barack Obama in 2008.

If Herbert's right and Repubs believe Obama would be easy to beat in a presidential bid, that's not enough reason to stop him from running. They can easily be wrong--just look at their ostensible confidence this time around as we're approaching November. But it is a good warning that we should be more sure of what we're going to get before we all wholeheartedly throw our support behind Obama.