People love the Obama from his convention speech. They love the Obama of right now. He is riding a wave that would be impossible to replicate or sustain until 2012 or beyond. Right now he is fresh, he is the new kid on the block, the flavor of the month, whatever you want to call him. But people are buying it.
They will not be buying it when he actually starts talking like a Senator. When he begins to seem as politically craven as a Bill Frist, John McCain or Joe Lieberman. They will not be buying when he begins to sound like a Joe Biden or Chuck Schumer.
Part of Obama's appeal is he does not sound like a consummate politician. He does not seem like a status quo D.C. cocktail party guy. His inexperience is probably more of a virtue than a hindrance. He does not have a lengthy record to pick apart. He does not have a viciously partisan background to exploit. Six to 10 years from now, we probably will not be able to say those same things.
Right now, Barack Obama is the "It" figure in politics. Nobody else has that type of mass appeal. Whether or not that translates into a Presidential election victory, nobody truly knows, but he will never have a better shot than he does at this moment. I am sure he knows this, or at least has seriously thought about it.
So yes, Obama is going to run for president in 2008.
That's my prediction, so we'll just see if I am right.
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