Does Anyone Know Barack Obama?
by Richard Cohen
The upcoming HBO documentary "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama," which is the product of many months of behind-the-scenes access to Obama during the presidential campaign. It reveals -- you will be surprised to learn -- that Barack Obama is pretty close to the most perfect person you will never get to know.
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If Obama ends the deepest recession since the Great Depression, if he enacts health care reform, if he succeeds in Afghanistan, then his presidency will have been remarkable, maybe even great -- the triumph of intellect. The man will be his own movement.
But if he fails in all or most of that, it will be because it is not enough to be the smartest person in the room. Warmth and commitment matter, too -- a driving sense of conviction, the fulsome embrace of causes and not just issues. That is not something Obama has yet shown. See the movie.
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Sometimes "real life" does not lend itself to the "movie" structure. And sometimes the "movie" does not reflect "real life."
I went to visit my friends who happen to live in the same neighborhood as Obama. And they once met him as a neighbor before he became famous. I wanted to visit his house, but that entire block is now guarded by security and we couldn't get within a photo shoot of his house. (Ah, the price of fame!)
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I am amazed that we have so little "real life" impressions of the man. The right vilifies him and accuses the left of "worshipping" him. I wonder if we can ever get an image of him as just a neighbor.
The upcoming HBO documentary "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama," which is the product of many months of behind-the-scenes access to Obama during the presidential campaign. It reveals -- you will be surprised to learn -- that Barack Obama is pretty close to the most perfect person you will never get to know.
----------
If Obama ends the deepest recession since the Great Depression, if he enacts health care reform, if he succeeds in Afghanistan, then his presidency will have been remarkable, maybe even great -- the triumph of intellect. The man will be his own movement.
But if he fails in all or most of that, it will be because it is not enough to be the smartest person in the room. Warmth and commitment matter, too -- a driving sense of conviction, the fulsome embrace of causes and not just issues. That is not something Obama has yet shown. See the movie.
--------------
Sometimes "real life" does not lend itself to the "movie" structure. And sometimes the "movie" does not reflect "real life."
I went to visit my friends who happen to live in the same neighborhood as Obama. And they once met him as a neighbor before he became famous. I wanted to visit his house, but that entire block is now guarded by security and we couldn't get within a photo shoot of his house. (Ah, the price of fame!)
-------------
I am amazed that we have so little "real life" impressions of the man. The right vilifies him and accuses the left of "worshipping" him. I wonder if we can ever get an image of him as just a neighbor.
