The Perfect Stranger

[frawin]

The Perfect Stranger

*By* *Charles Krauthammer*
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/author/charles_krauthammer/

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama is an immensely talented man whose talents
have been largely devoted to crafting, and chronicling, his own life.
Not things. Not ideas. Not institutions. But himself.

Nothing wrong or even terribly odd about that, except that he is laying
claim to the job of crafting the coming history of the United States. A
leap of such audacity /is/ odd. The air of unease at the Democratic
convention this week was not just a result of the Clinton psychodrama.
The deeper anxiety was that the party was nominating a man of many gifts
but precious few accomplishments -- bearing even fewer witnesses.

When John Kerry was introduced at his convention four years ago, an
honor guard of a dozen mates from his Vietnam days surrounded him on the
podium attesting to his character and readiness to lead. Such personal
testimonials are the norm. The roster of fellow soldiers or fellow
senators who could from personal experience vouch for John McCain is
rather long. At a less partisan date in the calendar, that roster might
even include Democrats Russ Feingold and Edward Kennedy, with whom John
McCain has worked to fashion important legislation.

Eerily missing at the Democratic convention this year were people of
stature who were seriously involved at some point in Obama's life
standing up to say: I know Barack Obama. I've been with Barack Obama.
We've toiled/endured together. You can trust him. I do.

Hillary Clinton could have said something like that. She and Obama had,
after all, engaged in a historic, utterly compelling contest for the
nomination. During her convention speech, you kept waiting for her to
offer just one line of testimony: I have come to know this man, to
admire this man, to see his character, his courage, his wisdom, his
judgment. Whatever. Anything.

Instead, nothing. She of course endorsed him. But the endorsement was
entirely programmatic: We're all Democrats. He's a Democrat. He
believes
what you believe. So we must elect him -- I am currently unavailable --
to get Democratic things done. God bless America.

Clinton's withholding the "I've come to know this man" was
vindictive
and supremely self-serving -- but jarring, too, because you realize that
if she didn't do it, no one else would. Not because of any inherent
deficiency in Obama's character. But simply as a reflection of a young
life with a biography remarkably thin by the standard of presidential
candidates.

Who was there to speak about the real Barack Obama? His wife. She could
tell you about Barack the father, the husband, the family man in a
winning and perfectly sincere way. But that only takes you so far. It
doesn't take you to the public man, the national leader.

Who is to testify to that? Hillary's husband on night three did aver
that Obama is "ready to lead." However, he offered not a shred of
evidence, let alone personal experience with Obama. And although he
pulled it off charmingly, everyone knew that, having been suggesting
precisely the opposite for months, he meant not a word of it.

Obama's vice presidential selection, Joe Biden, naturally advertised his
patron's virtues, such as the fact that he had "reached across party
lines to ... keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists." But
securing loose nukes is as bipartisan as motherhood and as
uncontroversial as apple pie. The measure was so minimal that it passed
by voice vote and received near zero media coverage.

Thought experiment. Assume John McCain had retired from politics. Would
he have testified to Obama's political courage in reaching across the
aisle to work with him on ethics reform, a collaboration Obama boasted
about in the Saddleback debate? "In fact," reports the Annenberg
Political Fact Check, "the two worked together for barely a week, after
which McCain accused Obama of 'partisan posturing'" -- and
launched a
volcanic missive charging him with double cross.

So where are the colleagues? The buddies? The political or spiritual
soul mates? His most important spiritual adviser and mentor was Jeremiah
Wright. But he's out. Then there's William Ayers, with whom he served
on
a board. He's out. Where are the others?

The oddity of this convention is that its central figure is the ultimate
self-made man, a dazzling mysterious Gatsby. The palpable apprehension
is that the anointed is a stranger -- a deeply engaging, elegant,
brilliant stranger with whom the Democrats had a torrid affair. Having
slowly woken up, they see the ring and wonder who exactly they married
last night.

[Teresa]

There is just way too much that we don't know about Mr Obama.