Obama rising, Hillary sliding

Clearly, Barack Obama has not yet peaked. He just resoundingly won Maine, and he even beat the Clintons out for a Grammy! Hey, the dude does have a great voice.

It is both inspiring and a little nerve-wracking to read that he, without planning or security, gave an impromptu rally outside a Maine meeting hall, when it was too full to admit everyone:

We waited in the longest line I had ever seen in my life for almost two hours…we were only a few hundred feet from the auditorium when we were told that the main room had filled to capacity as well as the overflow room. Just when we were ready to turn back, we were told that Barack would speak to us outside, and would do so FIRST.
[…]
There was excitement, there was hope, and there were specifics…He then spent time talking to and shaking hands with the crowd before going in.

I could not believe this was happening. No crowd control, no checking of bags, Barack in a potentially dangerous setting with no way for Secret Service to cover him. And he did it without hesitation. Anyone who will do this in a state with a population likely to vote for Hillary, a tiny, white, poor, lost in the back woods near Canada population, and for those foolish enough to show up “late”, is someone who clearly gives a damn. He was comfortable with a chaotic situation, worked it to his advantage on the fly, and did it with grace and aplomb.
[…]
This life-long Independent is ready to sign on to the Democratic party, participate in today’s caucus, and follow this leader all the way to November and beyond.

That move by Obama was something Bobby Kennedy would have done. It is something no one else does, anymore.

After almost 15 years of rabid partisanship and “scorched earth” permanent campaigning, Americans are hungry for a message that unites instead of divides; we are starved for the rhetoric of rising tides which lift all boats. America seems to be so grateful for someone new after too many years of the same-old-faces-with-the-same old-ideas, that they are not even thinking about specific policies. They just want to hear good things again, and to believe in them. They want to see leadership that seems effortless and unscripted; they want to be spoken to without the hesitancy of Bushian-malaprops or the hard-edges of Clintonian-mendacity.

Barack Obama is a talented, smart and buoyantly uplifting man with a positive message who has arrived on the scene at precisely the instant America needs buoyancy, and positive uplift. Whether he can continue to rise once the weight of specifics are added, is anyone’s guess.

Of course the Obama juggernaut could bust at any time, or some “scandal” could erupt. But I’m thinking if the Clintons had any dirt on him, they’d have used it already; perhaps there is no substantial dirt.

And that’s partly the Clinton’s own fault. They’ve so lowered the bar on what can sink a politician – or at least a Democrat politician, that it is very difficult for them to smear Obama.

So, the rise and rise of Barack Obama continues apace – he needs to be more diligent about his security and Hillary Clinton is in deep trouble.

The GOP is too, if McCain is indeed the nominee in July, and the Dems choose Obama in August, instead of Hillary.

But…it is early and McCain is still not worth all the anguish being embraced by the far right, because who knows what will happen – I still don’t know that I believe he will be the nominee come November, for many reasons, the least reasonable but most dependable being that THINGS TURN ON A DIME.

Which is why I keep telling everyone to calm the heck down. Not that anyone is listening!

Thomas Lifson has more thoughts on all that. (H/T Larwyn)