INDIANAPOLIS - Presidential campaigns play out in a series of overlapping dramas, a chain of one-act plays sometimes scripted and sometimes pure improv. Scene by scene, heroes and villains emerge and recede as the principals vie for the audience's affection.
The candidates play many roles, but this campaign has presented few juxtapositions as stark as Sen. Barack Obama's performance this week ahead of Tuesday's primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. Wearing a suit coat and speaking in somber tones, Obama has twice called reporters together to push back against what he called "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in truth" by his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
This Obama, struggling to keep his insurgent campaign from sinking under his long association with Wright, is the one getting the national headlines and the intensive scrutiny of the pundits and the blogophiles. The consensus driving the press conferences and the one-on-one interviews is that Obama has much explaining to do if he hopes to preserve his candidacy.
Obama's staff is worried about an emerging story line that it feels largely powerless to control. Although the Illinois senator retains a sizeable lead among the delegates that will choose the Democratic nominee in August, the rise of racial politics and the resurgence of questions about Obama's judgment and mettle have them concerned.
Yet Obama is playing another role amid all the interviews and the private strategy sessions and the calls to superdelegates. Day after day, he stands, with his sleeves rolled up, on raised platforms in high school and college gymnasiums where he delivers a lively and upbeat campaign pitch that invariably brings supporters to their feet, clapping and cheering.
In these performances, Obama barely mentions Wright. He mixes the themes of his campaign with policy -- most recently emphasizing his opposition to a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax -- and his personal story. Toward the end of remarks that typically last anywhere from 25 to 50 minutes, Obama has started grouping Wright with an array of issues that critics consider character questions.
The riff echoes lines that Obama used during his 2004 Senate campaign and the early stages of his White House run, when he and his wife Michelle introduced him as the skinny black guy with the funny name. If only people could know him, they said, they would see that he shares their values. Now, long after he hoped it would be necessary, he makes similar references that carry an edge, an assurance and a plea.
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The candidates play many roles, but this campaign has presented few juxtapositions as stark as Sen. Barack Obama's performance this week ahead of Tuesday's primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. Wearing a suit coat and speaking in somber tones, Obama has twice called reporters together to push back against what he called "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in truth" by his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
This Obama, struggling to keep his insurgent campaign from sinking under his long association with Wright, is the one getting the national headlines and the intensive scrutiny of the pundits and the blogophiles. The consensus driving the press conferences and the one-on-one interviews is that Obama has much explaining to do if he hopes to preserve his candidacy.
Obama's staff is worried about an emerging story line that it feels largely powerless to control. Although the Illinois senator retains a sizeable lead among the delegates that will choose the Democratic nominee in August, the rise of racial politics and the resurgence of questions about Obama's judgment and mettle have them concerned.
Yet Obama is playing another role amid all the interviews and the private strategy sessions and the calls to superdelegates. Day after day, he stands, with his sleeves rolled up, on raised platforms in high school and college gymnasiums where he delivers a lively and upbeat campaign pitch that invariably brings supporters to their feet, clapping and cheering.
In these performances, Obama barely mentions Wright. He mixes the themes of his campaign with policy -- most recently emphasizing his opposition to a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax -- and his personal story. Toward the end of remarks that typically last anywhere from 25 to 50 minutes, Obama has started grouping Wright with an array of issues that critics consider character questions.
The riff echoes lines that Obama used during his 2004 Senate campaign and the early stages of his White House run, when he and his wife Michelle introduced him as the skinny black guy with the funny name. If only people could know him, they said, they would see that he shares their values. Now, long after he hoped it would be necessary, he makes similar references that carry an edge, an assurance and a plea.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
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