"Obama"

Howie Summary:

Josh Marshall says "For months I've been quietly hoping that Barack Obama would at least make a race of it with Hillary Clinton." Then he references Maureen Dowd (while "wondering about myself...picking up political insights from Maureen Dowd") in his post. Dowd compares Obama to Adlai Stevenson (another guy from Illinois):

"Stevenson is stuck on the same mental pedestal that Barack Obama is on."

and she then quotes Arthur Schlesinger on Adlai:

“split between his desire to win and his desire to live up to the noble image of himself.”

Marshall opines:

I thought about qualities that describe what is at issue. 'Toughness' seems to bound up in meta-national security mumbojumbo. 'Ruthlessness' sounds too, well, ruthless. You have to want it enough that you reach out and take it. Which isn't always pretty and admirable. But that's what it takes.

Howie P.S.: Sounds like Josh is ready to put a fork in Barack. Ben Smith comments:

I'm not sure that's quite the right framework, though; Obama's personal scrappiness and confidence has always been a feature of his career. What has him handcuffed may be more his strategy, which hinges on a message of "unity" that is as much in line with polling and message-testing as with his personality.