Finally! Someone Else Makes the Connection About Obama and Leadership

I am impressed by Obama's campaign. Probably not as surprised as Mark Penn and Hilary Clinton, but impressed to the point that this was one of the two big indicators of his talents for the Presidency. Now Peter Beinart in The Washington Post makes the same point:

Deep into a primary campaign that was supposed be over by now, Barack Obama must still answer one fundamental question. Jeremiah Wright notwithstanding, it's not whether he's too black. It's whether he's too green. Hillary Clinton has made Obama's inexperience her chief line of attack, and if she goes down, John McCain will pick up where she left off. Luckily, Obama doesn't have to rely on his legislative résumé to prove he's capable of running the government. He can point to something more germane: the way he's run his campaign.

Read the rest of Obama at the Helm, it is interesting and not just because I agree with so much of it.

Mr. Beinart also raises a worry I had not seen or heard before:

The danger is that Obama will fall prey to the malady that ruined Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter: self-righteousness....

I suggest taking another look at Obama bowling - not the bowling itself but how he behaves afterwards. I recall a rueful grin and body language that exuded a self-deprecation. I think it will take a lot for Obama to slide into Wilsonian self-righteousness or Bush's arrogance.