The most telling moment in Barack Obama’s 60 Minutes interview came when Steve Kroft asked for his reaction after he saw the photo of Osama bin Laden, shot in the head. “It was him,” the President said. And that was all he said. Now, this was a classic TV how-did-you-feel question, and Obama had a range of possible options. He could have gone all political, “I thought of the families who had lost loved ones …” Or graphic, “Well, it was pretty ugly, but …” Or excited, “Oh. My. God.” Or religious, “Thank God.” Or triumphal, “My first thought, actually, Steve, was ‘Hasta la vista, baby.’ ” But, of course, this is Barack Obama, more Gregory Peck than John Wayne. And the same taciturn, hyperdisciplined quality that is so frustrating when he seems unable to connect with the economic anguish of the American people came across as just right, perfectly Midwestern — Kansas, not Hawaii, much less Kenya.
A few days earlier, five of the Republican candidates for President gathered in South Carolina for their first official debate. It was a weird show, newsworthy only because Congressman Ron Paul came out in favor of legalizing heroin, cocaine and prostitution. Many of the more serious and less serious Republican candidates weren’t there — and so it would be unfair to compare the Republican punytude with the massive presidentiality of Obama during his strongest week.
