The New Anointed One

I'm from Cleveland, where for several years, the talk around town was Lebron James, the Original Anointed One.

Now, according to Time and other MSM pundits, Barack Obama, the Senator from Illinois, may be coaxed into assuming his rightful role as the Democrat standard-bearer. As CNN.com puts it:

The question of when Obama -- who has not yet served two years in the U.S. Senate -- will run for president is omnipresent. That he will eventually run, and win, is assumed by almost everyone who comes to watch him speak.

It reminds me of the obsessive speculation in the 50's and 60's, that used to accompany any half-way acceptable fighter of suitably pale complexion - could this lad be the Next Champion? He was usually tagged The Great White Hope.

Is Barack Obama The Great Black Hope?

He seems to be an OK guy, and a competent Senator. My big concern about him is that the would-be kingmakers will push him too fast. Frankly, I'd prefer to see him serve at least one full term as Senator before running for the top job. My gut tells me that it takes time to take the measure of a man.

One thing the Time article makes clear, however, is a certain tentativeness in Obama. He is not, at least now, a bold leader. He is a milder type, a fence-sitter. That moderation may serve him well in the Senate. There, you have to compromise and straddle two fields to be effective.

But a President has to have a vision. A President has to stand clearly FOR a plan - without passion, changes just don't get implemented. However easy-going Reagan was, for example, he had a clear sense of what he wanted to do in his term. And he was more successful than most in getting that plan to work, in great part because he communicated his vision to the people who served him.

I'm just not sure that Obama can do that, at least, right now.