Bob Herbert's "More Than Charisma"

Bob Herbert discusses the charisma of Barack Obama in his column this morning. He first recounts a story in 2006:

On a rainy October night in 2006, I took a cab to the John F. Kennedy library here to conduct a very public interview. As we pulled up, the driver asked, “Who’s on the program?”

“Barack Obama,” I said.

“Oh,” he replied, “our next president.”

Almost anyone who heard his 2004 DNC speech felt the same way. Even conservatives like George Will, who said the first time he met Barack Obama, it was like watching Alex Rodriguez play for the first time, saw his magnetism, his charisma.

But Herbert explains why Obama isn't just a charismatic figure with a beautiful family:

We’ve been watching that something this week, and it’s called leadership. Mr. Obama has been feeding the almost desperate hunger in this country for mature leadership, for someone who is not reckless and clownish, shortsighted and self-absorbed.

However you feel about his policies, and there are people grumbling on the right and on the left, Mr. Obama has signaled loudly and clearly that the era of irresponsible behavior in public office is over.

No more crazy wars. No more torture, and no more throwing people in prison without even the semblance of due process. No more napping while critical problems like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, global warming, and economic inequality in the United States grow steadily worse.

Yes, you get the sense with Obama that there will be no more rash decisions. No more petty ideological decisions. Just calm, thoughtful leadership. And after 8 years of George Bush, it is exactly what this country needs.