Self-Made Man or Mysterious Stranger?
Charles Krauthammer
Friday, August 29, 2008
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.
