Public Eye
February 9, 2007 3:37 PM

The Hard Part Begins

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Mega-Media Trends
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
When Barack Obama formally announces his presidential run Saturday, "[r]eporters, perpetuating the boom and bust cycle of a ravenous media culture, will try to make up for fawning coverage of the past." At least according to Mike Allen, whose piece on the "Coming Effort to Dismantle a Candidate" is worth a read.

The story goes through Obama's weaknesses and notes that "[o]fficials at the top of both parties calculate that Obama has risen too fast to sustain his popularity in the cauldron of a presidential campaign." Obama's inexperience, "anemic" policy record, liberalism, and past disclosures are his weak spots, Allen writes. (He wrote in one book: "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it.")

But The New Republic's Michael Crowley says "there's nothing terribly damning here --at least not beyond things we know." The problem isn't what's here, he warns, but what's not: "the really saucy stuff," he suspects, "will spill in more dramatic fashion" down the road.
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