The Problem with St Barack

Mike Crowley on the latest from the Obama campaign:

A new flier from the Obama campaign bills itself as offering "Barack Obama in his own words." But the first thing you encounter when you unfold it is a quote from Robert Kennedy's son about the legacy of his father. Just in case the Obama-RFK parallel had escaped anyone thus far....

I wonder if Obama perhaps shouldn't play that card. There's something a little unseemly and certainly very immodest about it. Indeed, there may be a limit to the public's willingness to embrace a candidate who might, if you were to believe the hype, be on the point of beatification. Such piety can grate. Equally, Obama's effort to raise himself above the petty and grubby concerns of the political life risks - unless played carefully and sensitively - making him appear rather too loftily superior to the other candidates. Too much of that and he risks seeming a prig or a snob.

I suspect Obama is aware of this, as this anecdote from a glitzy Hollywood fund-raiser may suggest:

When Morgan Freeman comes over to greet Obama, the senator begins bowing down both hands in worship. "This guy was president before I was," says Obama, referring to Freeman's turn in Deep Impact and, clearly, getting a little ahead of his own bio. Next, a nod to Bruce Almighty: "This guy was God before I was." (Okay, more than a little ahead.) But Freeman is eating it up. Leaning in, he tells the senator to win it. "I will," Obama replies. "That's why I'm running."

Now, Obama is clearly joking here. But it might be useful for him to undercut his saintly image on the campaign trail too. I suspect he can throw an elbow if he wants or needs to; but a little less sanctimony and a little more nastiness wouldn't hurt him either. Although, of course, perhaps that willingness to play fast and loose with rules or ethics is what the constant invocation of RFK is supposed to suggest...