What do you think of David Brooks latest column 'The 21st-Century Man'

[Thrill]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/opinion/26brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Sensitivity]

1. Recommend for consideration: Obama must be himself, BUT THE CAMPAIGN HAS TO DEAL

with the changing dynamics of the street-fight that is underway or he will end-up under such desperate pressures that he won't be able to be his best.

[Beregond2]

2. I thought it was great.

He basically told the talking heads to STFU because Obama does just fine when allowed to be himself.

[Bucky]

3. I believe I'm supposed to hate it. But maybe I'll read it first.

[Bucky]

5. Okay, there are some good lines and good advice in there

"I’ll put a plus down every time a speaker says that McCain is a good man who happens to be out of step with the times. I’ll put a plus down every time a speaker says that a multipolar world demands a softer international touch. I’ll put a plus down when a speaker says the old free market policies worked fine in the 20th century, but no longer seem to be working today. These are arguments that reinforce Obama’s identity as a 21st-century man."

While some of this won't fly with many DUers, this is actually a smart strategy and carries the added benefit of being true to who Obama is. Obama has been accurately described as a "University of Chicago Democrat"--a phrase that 40 years ago would have been synonymous with "conservative Democrat" at best and at worst an oxymoron. But Obama is a genuine liberal with a strong pragmatic streak. He believes in doing what works, almost to point of being post-ideological. But he has core values that he's always stood up for.

Brooks, of course, oversimplifies the list of "loser" Democrats. He mentions Al Gore as if Gore actually lost the 2000 race. He demonizes the left as purely and uniquely incompetant--a rather hard sell to make in the last year of George Bush's presidency. But I think his instincts are right here--Obama, when he gets tough, will have to do so in a way consistant with his core self. If he's seen as even slightly fake, he won't win over the millions of voters who right now can be tipped into our column.

[MarjorieG]

4. Good points, but also allows insubstantial take on the vision thing.

I hope Biden talks about McCain's policy choices. (Although Biden was part of the NATO push, etc) I'm afraid of Poland's Shield and Georgia, as started for McCain to solve-or keep stoked.