MoDo (hearts) Barack Obama

Despite the fact that Barack Obama has gone in two years from being the Great Hope of the Democratic Party to just another "go along to get along" Washington legislator, Maureen Dowd thinks he's just what the doctor ordered in 2008:

It may be true that Americans, as one Democrat told me, "will never elect a guy as president who has a name like a Middle East terrorist." And it may be true that Democrats are racing like lemmings toward a race where, as one moaned, "John McCain will dribble Hillary Clinton's head down the court like a basketball."

But the clever, elegant performance by Mr. Obama — who is intent on keeping his head down in the Senate until he, too, can be a tedious insider — underscored the Democratic vacuum. Not only do the Democrats "stand for anything," as Mr. Obama semijoked, but they have no champion at a time when people are hungry for an exciting leader, when the party should be roaring and soaring against the Bushies' power-mad stumbles. They should groom an '08 star who can run on the pledge of doing what's right instead of only what's far right.

The Republicans won with Ronald Reagan and W. by taking guys with more likeability and sizzle than experience. They figure they'll win in a McCain-Hillary duel by running a conservative beloved by the media and many Democrats against a polarizing Northerner who can't win any red states despite pandering to conservatives.

The weak and pathetic Democrats seem to move inexorably toward candidates who turn a lot of people off. They should find someone captivating with an intensely American success story — someone like Senator Obama, Tom Brokaw or some innovative business mogul who's less crazy than Ross Perot — and shape the campaign around that leader. Barack Obama is 44. J.F.K., who had a reputation as a callow playboy and lawmaker who barely knew his way around the Hill, was 43 when he became president.

With seniority comes dullness. And unless you can draw on it in desperate times, promise is merely a curse.

Democrats think Senator Potential's experience does not match Senator Pothole's. Much of hers is as a first lady who bollixed up chunks of domestic policy. They also suspect she may be more macho than he is. They fret that the freshman Illinois senator would wilt against the Arizona senator's foreign policy experience — and he probably would. But Mr. McCain, a big hawk on Iraq, has talked of sending more troops, and his mentor was Henry Kissinger. These are not recommendations.

W. had the foreign policy "dream team," and it shattered our foreign policy, ideals and self-image. Despite hundreds of years of combined experience, the Bushies rammed through cronies and schemes that were so destructive, it will take hundreds of years to straighten out the mistakes.

The Democrats should not dismiss a politically less experienced but personally more charismatic prospect as "an empty vessel." Maybe an empty vessel can fill the room.

I know it's heresy in Democratic circles to criticize Barack Obama, but frankly, if you're going to run an inexperienced Democrat, you might as well run one who hasn't allowed himself to be silenced by the Washington hacks -- someone like Paul Hackett. At the very least, it would throw down the "straight talk" gauntlet right in front of John "I Get a Woody From Looking at George in his Flightsuit" McCain. And he's got a sense of humor to boot, which you know if you saw The Daily Show last night (or even if you read about it).

Obama may have exuded charm at the Gridiron dinner, but his record thus far has not exactly inspired anyone to think he can beat the Republican smear machine. Obama is a fine, decent man who still may be "Senator Potential", as MoDo calls him, but thus far I haven't seen any guts from him -- not even to defend minority voters in Ohio from being blocked from voting in 2004.

Conservatives (and hack Democrats) love to deride Hackett as a hothead, but I guarantee you -- after eight years of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and of watching Democrats sit on their hands while only Russ Feingold has the guts to demand that the president do something astounding like, oh, say, FOLLOW THE RULE OF LAW -- Hackett would have as good a shot at anyone, and a better shot than many -- certainly a better shot that either Senator "Thank You Sir May I Have Another" or Senator "Look At My Brass Balls Hey I'm Practically a Republican."

UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has the Hackett segment from The Daily Show. Every time you think the show is starting to lose its edge, they come up with something absolutely fucking brilliant like this. It's a must-see.