Richard Cohen on the Unknown Obama

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/01/richard-cohen-on-the-unknown-obama

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen (via the WSJ.com political diary):

I have been particularly harsh on McCain for his irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. ...But what, then, can we make of Kerry's choice of Edwards? It is not quite in the Palin category, since Edwards had been in the Senate for one term and had made a career for himself as a stunningly successful trial attorney. Still, not only did he lack legislative achievement, but, in retrospect, it's clear that little was known about him. He dazzled as a political matinee idol -- a profile, a speech, a mirage of a marriage.

The out-of-nowhere rise of Palin and Edwards in less than a decade is warning enough that something is wrong. I will also throw Barack Obama into the mix, not because I know something nefarious about him but because I realize more and more that I know so little about him.

When, for instance, the call goes out to let Obama be Obama, I'm not sure what that is. For the moment, it's a tendentious populism, but the sound of it is tinny and inauthentic, a campaign tactic, nothing more.

by Editor  |  Jan 27, 2010 at 4:44 pm Related Topics:  Capital Markets Regulation, Politics, President Obama receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list