Obama opens his mouth at the wrong time
In the past, I have gone easy on Senator Barack Obama.
He seems likable and genuine. But if his recent comments are any indication, the senator may be in over his head.
What the American public has gotten from Obama is style over substance. He represents a new choice; a new day. I can't speak for anyone on the right but myself, but I have to say Obama has made himself more appealing than Senator Hillary Clinton. That is, of course, because he's not Senator Clinton.
Obama's campaign appears to be more about who he's not than who he is, at least from a political perspective.
It's been that way since he rose to national attention.
I didn't see his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention, but I remember it getting rave reviews.
Almost two years later, when the Illinois senator was contemplating a presidential run, I felt I needed to ask what he had done to warrant such consideration. My fellow workers said nothing (not in words, but in silence). The one who finally spoke up mentioned his "great speech" at the convention.
When I asked the co-worker what the speech was about, he told me he didn't know.
"But it was a great speech," the man assured me.
Charm will get you a long way, but eventually, a candidate has to be able to distinguish themself with more than that.
For all of the momentum Obama has, it could all be erased by a major mistake. Whether his comments in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy will be that mistake is not clear.
But if I worked on the Obama campaign and read this, I'd be more than a little concerned.