Is Star Power Staying Power?

NY Times on Obama, who is heading to New Hampshire next Sunday for "campaign-like events":

In Mr. Obama, Democrats have a prospective candidate who both underlines and compensates for the potential weaknesses that worry many Democrats about Mrs. Clinton.

He is a fervent opponent of the war in Iraq, and Democrats see him as an exceedingly warm campaigner with a compelling personality and a striking ability to command a crowd. He has no known major political baggage (though he has yet to encounter anything approaching the level of scrutiny Mrs. Clinton has undergone during her years in public life). And Mr. Obama can even match Mrs. Clinton’s arresting political storyline if he tries to became the nation’s first black president as she seeks to become its first female president.

Gee, I thought Bill was the first black president. But that was then, this is now. Interesting that the NY Times story alludes to Hillary's political baggage. That pretty-in-pink suit might look a little dated these days. Yup, Hillary is over the hill, hints Obama, and maybe a teeny bit strident?:

Mr. Obama has already provided some hints of how he would position himself against Mrs. Clinton, suggesting he would link her to her husband’s presidency and their role in the intense partisanship that marked much of the 1990s and that carried over into the Bush presidency.

During a lengthy interview just before the midterm elections, Mr. Obama portrayed himself as part of a new generation of political leaders.

If nothing else, at least Obama probably pushes some of the more tired losers like Gore out of the race--please, no more reinventions, or invented truths. And Kerry did himself in. But Obama and Hillary, the "Celebrity Candidates" also push aside Dem governors, the traditional path to presidential power, including competent ones, like Gov. Bill Richardson (not to mention much-investigated ones, like Obama's own Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, with whom he shares at least one shady connection).

The celebrity blitz---book tour, Africa tour, mixed in with campaigning for Dem candidates, has pushed expectations very high for Obama.

Will he have staying power? Will Hillary emerge as a statesman on the war and foreign policy, to underline and compensate for Obama's political weakness as inexperienced? Will his star power appeal to left-leaning idealists stay undimmed for the next two years?


Previous post here.