What the hell is wrong with Barack Obama?

by shamanic

This guy will simply never be able to beat the Republican party. Cool, aloof, soft spoken with his ultra-measured words - where's the passion that sucked so many of us into his campaign in the first place?

If the gloves were going to come off, they would have come off last night. Instead, report after report remarks on Edwards and Dodd. Journalists seem to be struggling to include Obama in their pieces at all.

Andrew Sullivan, a big proponent of Obama this cycle, says this: "As someone who thinks Obama is still the best bet for real change in this election, I kept feeling underwhelmed by his performance. You wait for him to go in for the kill ... and ... he ... never ... quite gets there. He seems to be possessed of an almost pathological high-mindedness... Goddamn it: stop being so fricking reasonable and above it all."

John Cole says simply, "Obama is not ready to be President."

Swampland liveblogged the debate, with Ana Marie Cox in fine form. Obama highlights reel:

9:04 PM Obama could not attack if he were surrounded by stinging bees.
9:16 PM Not only is Obama not taking the bait to attack Hillary but I think he may endorse her by the end of the night.

There's more, but it's hardly worth mentioning.

Does Barack Obama not want to be president? I honestly can't figure out what he's doing in the debates or in the campaign generally. He's got enough money to fight but chooses not to. I'm with Cole. He's not ready to be president, and he's certainly not ready to push back against the withering attacks that would fly from all directions if he were the nominee. Can anyone say John Kerry?