My Thoughts Precisely

Senator Obama has weaknesses, including his inexperience and his liberalism, and they matter. We’re electing a President, after all, not deciding on a prom date. And so scrutiny on Obama’s positions, which has largely been missing from the campaign so far, will increase – and that will eventually take a toll. The impressive but vague and abstract appeal of Obama should decrease as the prosaic side of politics – namely, a candidate’s stand on the issues – begins to push aside the poetry side of politics.

What Obama has working in his favor, I think, is that his areas of vulnerability are off-set to some extent (and maybe to a large extent) by his personality, his tone, his bearing. He is inexperienced – but he radiates a sense of good judgment. He has a liberal voting record – but he comes across as largely anti-ideological and certainly as anti-radical. Those things should help him down the road, though they will certainly not inoculate him. --(neocon) Peter Wehner, Commentary Magazine