The No-Bullshit Appoach of Barack Obama

Joe Klein thinks Obama's coy way the "get her!" nature of these Democratic debates is a sign of his political viability. Only the desperate get nasty. (Is that why front-runner George W. Bush unleashed hell on John McCain in 2000?)

But Klein sees Obama's no-bullshit rhetoric as a large part of his appeal to voters: 

But then, Obama's low-key campaign has been confusing to the press, and perhaps to the public, from the start. A few days before the debate, I spent a day with Obama in Iowa, and the most striking thing to me about the Senator's performances was the scrupulous honesty of his answers, his insistence on delivering bad news when necessary. A woman asked if he believed that stay-at-home moms should be eligible for Social Security. There is a way most politicians answer such questions: a moving tribute to the virtues of child-rearing, then on to the next question without ever making the commitment. Obama did the moving tribute — with a joke about his ineptitude as a parent — but then he told the woman no. "We can't extend those benefits without huge financial implications," he said.

And as for Hillary's wound-licking from a few nights ago…