Assessing Obama

29 June 2008 |permalink | email article

Washington Post conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer used Barack Obama’s grandmother to take a very cheap shot at the candidate Friday.

Andrew Sullivan, a more respected conservative columnist, responded on his The Daily Dish blog:

Obama’s reference to his own grandmother’s fear of black men was not in any conceivable universe “throwing her under the bus.” It was a way to explain how Obama has seen and empathized with racial fears on both sides of the divide…

“I might add that I don’t disagree with Charles’ assessment of Obama’s steely political skills. Obama is an inspiring figure and remains a bridge to the post-boomer discourse. But he is impressive precisely because he is neither pure Adlai Stevenson nor a protean Bill Clinton. He’s more like Jack Kennedy: cunning, ruthless, capable of political positioning as much as greatness.

“I don’t want politicians to be saints. I just don’t want them to be devoid of integrity either. Obama strikes me as better, much better, than most.”

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