Finding Your Inner Joe Six-Pack

Smart piece from John Heilemann in New York: Some have said that Obama is fortunate, in crass political terms, to be running in the teeth of an impending recession. Heilemann argues that the meltdown marked the point when Obama “finally found both his footing and his voice on matters economic.” Obama had a tough time fending off Hillary Clinton because his economic message was “empathy-free.” He has since adopted a calm sort of populism, using pin-point attacks on Wall Street practices without taking Al Gore’s (or even John McCain’s) blowtorch to financial institutions. The effect has been that Obama’s aloofness now seems like calm under pressure.