• campaign rhetoric 2008
• political rhetoric

Slate's Jack Shafer discusses the fact that nothing sticks to Obama. He rejects the thesis that the press is soft on Obama by pointing to stories about Reverend Wright, Obama's compromise on an energy bill that reportedly benefitted a donor, his relationship with Tony Rezko, and many more. Shafer then asks:

You could call Obama the Teflon-coated candidate, but this would miss the fact that his slickness goes all the way to the core. What has gone unexplored until now is this: How did Barack Obama achieve superslipperiness without becoming greasy?

Shafer goes on to argue that "Obama's poise and discipline allow him to resist whatever bait the press and politicians dangle in front of him." It seems like such statements will mean that Shafer's piece would be put in the "Obama is Jesus" pile. But then there's this:

Obama has maintained his persona by keeping the campaign press corps on a starvation diet. Yet such a strategy becomes self-limiting as the race for the White House narrows down to a two-person contest. Voters in the general election, as opposed to the primaries, tend to want more answers and fewer gestures.

I suspect we'll see more discussion like this in the weeks to come. Obama's "outsider" status is slowly deterioriating. It only took a 12-month campaign to destroy it completely (rightly or wrongly), and his style will slowly shift from something inspirational to something slightly "greasy."

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