Obama : Clinton : : Symbol : Wonk (I'll take the Wonk)

Over at MyDD and TPM they're mad at Dana Milbank. They think he's quoting Obama out of context when he writes:

Inside, according to a witness, he told the House members, "This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for," adding: "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."

The full context, according to the blogger boys, should have included the following:

A Dem leadership aide who was in the room has emailed me and other reporters this: "His entire point of that riff was that the campaign IS NOT about him. The Post left out the important first half of the sentence, which was something along the lines of: 'It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol ... ."

That's the context that's supposed to make Obama look humble? He's informing an audience of Congress Critters that even though millions of people see him as the symbol of American Greatness, it's not really about Barack at all! It reminds me of the old line about the egotistical Hollywood actor who says, "But enough about me. What do you think of me?" He's not fooling anyone.

Barack Obama is no less arrogant than George W. Bush. After 9/11, Bush was able to make his particular brand of arrogance work for him politically. It's doubtful that Obama can pull that off, but the real problem is not his abundant self-esteem, it's his view of himself as a "symbol." In this, he is absolutely correct, and it's the reason he will be a weak president.

Bill and Hillary Clinton are not symbols. They are policy wonks with out-sized public personalities who can survive--and sometimes thrive--without the help of the corporate media. Obama's political strength derives from his exploitation of a cool, carefully constructed and strangely impersonal image as a unifying symbol of hope. Under no circumstances may he allow that image to be tarnished, which is why he will never engage in any serious battles with forces on the right. He'll cave if he has to.

That's why he's so hard to pin down on substance.