Today, in the Washington Post's Business section, columnist Steven Pearlstein wrote about Barack Obama. In a column title There's the Beef Pearlstein had more than a few good things to say about Obama, starting with:
During the course of our endless presidential campaigns, lots of silly things are said by the candidates and the press. But few are more ridiculous than the idea that Barack Obama is just an empty suit.
He gets off some zingers on the other candidates, too:
Let's begin with the fact that he has written two books (all by himself, unlike a certain other candidate). The first offers a compelling personal narrative that, for some reason, is dismissed as puffery by a presumptive Republican nominee who first ran for office on the strength of his compelling personal narrative.
and then explains how Obama has detailed plans on every issue (15 single spaced pages, with footnotes-and that's just health care).
He has his criticisms, of course, but then says:
But such shortcomings are hardly unusual for a political campaign; the Clinton economic program is no better. And as we're all about to find out, it's far better than the thin gruel offered so far by John McCain, who, God help us, plans to bone up on economics by reading Alan Greenspan.
Pearlstein is more reality based than most business columnists; he's not a liberal but he certainly isn't a free-market cheerleader. I'd almost say that his closing sentence is an endorsement.
Barack Obama isn't a saint. He's not a savior. But in substance as well as style, he's the most impressive presidential candidate to come along in quite a while.