Barack Obama Generating News Stories

I've been trying to even up the coverage on the Democrats running for president in 2008 but it's a little difficult to blog about the other candidates if the buzz is mostly about Barack Obama at the moment. I truly believe we have a wide open primary and if the media somewhat continues to ignore other candidates, I'll deal with that as it becomes more obvious. For now, here's a story about Senator Obama's visit to South Carolina by Aaron Gould Sheinin in The State:

He fought his way through the crowd, shaking hands and posing for pictures.

When he finally reached the square stage reserved for him, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama took the crowd from jubilant to frenzied.

“How you doing South Carolina! Look at this! Look at this! Goodness gracious!” he called out.

(snip)

Finally, Obama called on the crowd to maintain enthusiasm and spirit through the long campaign ahead. He invoked the name of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who once remarked that the “arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

“So, South Carolina, let’s get busy. Let’s get to work. Let’s organize,” he said.

I like what I see and hear when Barack Obama gives speeches or interviews but I have to admit that he's so new on the scene, I hardly know quite what to make of him. Every presidential race ought to have its fresh faces and there was a time when people made an early run just to introduce themselves. Going from nowhere three years ago to the White House is still a big leap.

Elsewhere, the McClatchy Washington Bureau's Steven Thomma has a story on Obama:

Watching Barack Obama launch his presidential campaign, you'd never know he's from Chicago.

He staged the dramatic kickoff downstate in Springfield, far from his adopted hometown. He barely mentioned Chicago. And he didn't share the stage - or the spotlight - with any of the well-known Democratic politicians from Chicago. Not Gov. Rod Blagojevich, not Mayor Richard M. Daley. Not the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

His seeming slight of Chicago shouldn't be a surprise. For while Obama is from Chicago, he's not of it. At least not its politics.

The story is just a little odd since Senator Obama is getting considerable support from politicians in Illinois and that includes some from Chicago. But the point may be that Barack Obama is an appealing candidate who can easily run as an outsider. In 2008, outsiders may do well but only if they can show they understand the problems our nation is facing and can show at the same time that they can build a broad consensus. The Illinois senator who was born in Hawaii and went to law school in Massachussets and who has a mother from Kansas seems to cover the bill. Of course, the Clintons also have a reputation for consensus building and Hillary Clinton has thrived well in several places, but the senator from New York cannot run as an outsider. Will being something of an outsider make a difference in 2008? Within a year, we'll begin to get the answer.