"He's too young," some say. "He's too inexperienced," others comment. "He's not ready to lead" say still more. Last night, Barack Obama stood and spoke before a backdrop consisting of Palladian-style architecture and a store-front White House that gave him more "gravitas" than he'll ever need. Gone was the tie-less youthful candidate whose lyrical rhetoric was punctuated by the Obama Girl. He addressed a panorama of national issues in measured tones, articulating a vision that connected his personal biography with members of the voting public, a technique perhaps borrowed from Joe Biden. Barack Hussein Obama, last night, demonstrated that he was quite competent and comfortable in delivering a State of the Union address. As Jack Nicholson would put it, "Auspicious beginnings."
