Monday, October 23, 2006

Obama Might Put His Hat In

Since so many of my readers bristle at the idea of Senator Hillary Clinton running for (or being elected to) President, I thought I would ask what you think of Senator Barack Obama running? Since he just let it slip that he is taking the idea seriously, and his potential candidacy would be a real threat to Senator Clinton, what should we make of this? Is he our guy? While I think he is a good looking, handsome, and seemingly old school liberal, I am not yet sure of his mettle. (See Dan Balz's piece in the WaPo)


But having served just two years in the Senate and seven in the Illinois state Senate, Obama has a thin résumé upon which to build a presidential candidacy. He was asked yesterday on "Meet the Press" whether he was ready to be president.

"I'm not sure anybody is ready to be president before they're president," he told moderator Tim Russert. "You know, ultimately, I trust the judgment of the American people that in any election they sort it through. We have a long and a rigorous process and, you know, should I decide to run, if I ever did decide to run, I'm confident that I'd be run through the paces pretty good."

One could argue that his short time in the Senate is a plus, since his voting record won't be so long and therefore capable of hanging him. His position on the Iraq war is certainly more attractive to many Dems. But what else does he have to offer?