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The longish article about Barack Obama that I wrote for our summer issue is now available on our main site. When I wrote the article I struggled with two potential narratives-either Obama would prove himself to be a lightweight, or he would be able to channel the unbridled enthusiasm of his supporters, present himself as a healer to a war weary nation, and ride the wave of change past the Clinton machine and all the way to the White House. In addition, I raised the possibility that he could emerge as an effective, charismatic, salesman for liberalism in the same way that Reagan was a salesman for conservatism-i.e. put a friendly face on an ideology that made it seem appealing even to those who may otherwise be disinclined to agree. Although we are still in the early stages of the campaign, it is only fair to acknowledge that in recent weeks those who were much more, shall we say, cynical, about Obama are proving wiser than I. When writing my article I believed that with a Democratic electorate angry about Iraq and eager for change, Hillary Clinton was handicapped by her vote for the war and susceptible to the dynasty argument. However, instead of being able to exploit these weaknesses, Obama has come off as naïve and so far every significant news event in the Democratic nomination battle seems to have reinforced the case for Hillary. Instead of being the pro-war, legacy candidate, she has become the responsible, experienced, candidate. My general view of Obama's potential remains the same, and it's still early enough for him to turn the narrative around. But things aren't looking too good for him right now.

topics:
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Conservatism