The one thing presidential candidates have in common is that they make great caricatures. Ross Perot's ears, Bill Clinton's nose. John Kerry's droopy chin. George Bush's uncanny resemblance to a chimp. Al Gore didn't lose because of hanging chads; he lost because there was nothing distinctive enough about him?visually or politically?to caricature. Wasn't his most frequent criticism that he was boring? Of all the candidates who are expected to run in 2008, Obama makes the best caricature out of all of them. McCain's chubby cheeks have nothing on Obama's big ears. Giuliani's horse teeth can't compare to Obama's goofy grin. And the drawings of Hillary make her look so terrifying that readers just want to forget them as fast as possible. Barack Obama already has the makings of a great caricature, and cartoonists across the country will have a field day if he decides to make a presidential run in 2008. Unlike a certain blandly handsome John Edwards, voters will remember the big-eared guy with the weird name, even if they never hear him say a word.
Those who have heard what Barack Obama has to say have called him many things: articulate, charismatic, even captivating. Says Stephen D. Levitt, the author of Freakonomics, "When he spoke, I wanted to believe him. I can't remember another politician ever having that effect on me. One friend, who knows Barack and who also knew Bobby Kennedy, said he had not seen anyone like Kennedy until he met Barack."
Obama's keynote speech was called the highlight of an otherwise lackluster Democratic Convention in 2004, and he has continued not just to inspire audiences, but to entertain them. On a recent episode of "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart asked him if he worried about the hype. With a straight face, Obama replied, "Yes, I do worry about the hype. The only person more over-hyped than me is you."
Obama is making a name for himself not only as a politician with a sense of humor, but also with a sense of candor. While promoting his book "The Audacity of Hope" (which beat a John Grisham thriller to reach the No. 1 spot on The New York Times booklist), Obama was asked if he thought the fact that he admitted to drug use in the book would be problematic in the future. He replied, "When I was a kid, I inhaled. That was the point." This was a not-so-subtle jab at President Clinton's desire to have it both ways when it came to the truth; Hillary Clinton, of course, is the current frontrunner in the opinion polls, and will be Barack Obama's biggest competition in the Democratic primary. One of the biggest questions is whether or not Obama can overcome the Clinton political machine to win the Democratic primary. However, Obama detracts significantly from what Hillary expected to be her two biggest bases: blacks and women. It means something when Oprah Winfrey said on "Larry King Live," "Take your energy and put it in Barack Obama...That would be my favorite guy." According to The Washington Post, she also asked Obama if he would announce his candidacy on her show. Without exaggerating, it can be said that Oprah is one of the defining tastemakers for women across America. If she is supporting Barack Obama and not Hillary Clinton, it will have an effect on her viewers.
Anyone who wants to compete with Obama will immediately cite his lack of experience. But as Howard Kurtz from the Post put it, "Experience? Who needs experience? That just makes you more vulnerable to negative ads." Obama's home state of Illinois is particularly good at electing inexperienced nobodies as president?perhaps you've heard of Abraham Lincoln? Obama's comparative lack of foreign policy experience is no worse than that of, say, a governor?and out of the last five presidents, Bush, Clinton, Reagan, and Carter were all governors. Besides, anyone familiar with names such as Mark Foley, Jack Abramoff, Scooter Libby, and Tom DeLay might find Obama's outsider status refreshing. The failed campaigns of senators McCain (in 2000), Kerry, and Lieberman all show that voters have little interest in experience, especially when it comes to the Senate. In fact, the last senator to make the jump to the White House had only one term under his belt before winning the Democratic primary. In the general election, he was called unelectable because of one of his inherent characteristics; the country wasn't ready for such a man to be president, his detractors said. Yet in spite of his Catholicism, John F. Kennedy went on to become one of the most beloved presidents in recent history.
Barack Obama has already made a trip to Iowa, where the first caucus will be held in 2008 to see who will win the Democratic nomination. On December 10, he will be visiting New Hampshire, which will hold the country's first primary. Though Obama has not yet officially announced his candidacy, he is definitely making a serious test of the waters. If experience is all that's holding him back, though, conservative columnist David Brooks has already said everything Obama needs to hear: "It would demoralize the Democrats to go through a long primary season with the most exciting figure in the party looming off in the distance like some unapproachable dream."
The headline puts it more simply: "Run, Barack, run."
Alex Locke is a member of the class of 2010.