Barack Obama and "The Vision Thing"

Tom Bevan at RealClearPolitics was less than bowled over by Obama's announcement of his intention to think about the possibility that he might run for president.

So the skinny kid with the funny name has taken the first step toward trying to become president of the United States. Sen. Barack Obama has already demonstrated he's loaded with traits that make him a formidable challenger for the Democratic nomination: incredible charisma, plenty of smarts, excellent rhetorical skills. Just as importantly, there's little doubt Obama has the ability to raise the insane gobs of money over the next 12 months -- $100 million or more -- that it will take to make him competitive.

What Obama doesn't have right now, however, and what he must find quickly, is "the vision thing" -- a rationale that will sustain support for his candidacy through the long, grueling primary process after the novelty and initial euphoria of his bid inevitably wears away.

Those who were hoping to catch a glimpse of "the vision thing" in Obama's announcement earlier this week came away disappointed, because the senator didn't offer one.

He has a point, I think, that he fleshes out in the rest of the article.

Still, I think this is a minor thing in presidential politics. What was GWB's vision? The first time around he lost the election, and the second time he used fear and lies to win.

I tend to agree with my POLYSEMY colleague, Jean Rivard:

Obama is charismatic, and he can speak and he's smart. But George W. as we all know can't speak, his intelligence is questionable, and he still won. Why? Because he appealed to people's hearts and to their guts. All you political wonkers can wonk 'till the cows come home about real issues, experience, and so on, but when the basic populace go to the polls they will be voting from their hearts, and there's not one other contender out there who's even playing in the same league as Obama when it comes to that appeal.

The rest of Jean's post is also interesting.

So, is it vision or heart?

I'm thinking that most American's don't need a vision -- they want to feel good about being Americans again. One of the things that carried Clinton a long way, despite all his other issues, was the fact that he could make us feel good about ourselves and hopeful about our nation.

Bush has made us feel that we are on the wrong path, and by consolidating power in unprecedented ways he has made many of us feel helpless to correct that path.

The Democratic Congress can go a long way in restoring our power to determine our own fate by undoing some of what Bush has done. But we still need a leader who inspires us.

It might be that Obama's vision is to reclaim the heart of America, whatever that might mean. A lot of people on both sides of the fence can support that agenda.

Tags: Barack Obama, 2008 Presidential race, The Vision Thing, Tom Bevan, heart, hope