Thursday, February 21, 2008

Obama Is Inspirational, But Does He Do Anything?

Even Chris Matthews was surprised when the Obama campaign's own surrogates are left utterly stumped when asked to list his legislative accomplishments as a Senator.


(HT Megan McArdle)

1 comment:

thinking said...

Actually Obama has a far more substantive legislative record than Hillary Clinton.

From a pure logic perspective, the fact that this one supporter was not prepared means nothing, except that this supporter is a bit ignorant.

If someone cannot name Einstein's accomplishments, that does not mean they do not exist. If someone cannot name Tiger Woods accomplishments, that does not mean they do not exist. And one can go on and on...

I don't agree with Obama on many issues, but it is a pure myth that the guy lacks substance. In fact, he is probably the most intellectual candidate in the field.

It is also a fallacy that if someone is inspirational, then they lack substance. It would be like arguing that if someone is pretty, they cannot be smart.

Obama is inspirational precisely because of a very well developed intellectual framework. As Peggy Noonan has remarked, when Obama answers a question, he comes across as a guy not afraid to think, which is a nice departure from most politicians with their canned responses.