Obama Skillfully Uses Clinton Model To Do Little To Achieve Stature

"Obama in Senate: Star Power, Minor Role" from the NY Times - yes, a slightly critical look from the New York Times at Senator Obama's Senate career.  There is no scandal planting or innudendo - as with other candidates.  It does somewhat highlight his considerable lack of achievement - how he won election against a minor candidate and once he got to the Senate, seemed to back off his oft-cited speech against the war in Iraq to vote cautiously to fund the war.  He manuevered between painting himself as an outsider and trying to ingratiate himself to Congressional members who initially resented his celebrity and cozied up to the likes of Senators Ted Kennedy and Tom Daschle.

Essentially, like his opponent Senator Clinton, he sought the celebrity route to the White House - with little personal acheivement, lots of PR - much of it carefully generated to appeal to an eager press ready for a liberal standard bearer - and decided to take the plunge in 2008.

He went to the Senate intent on learning the ways of the institution, telling reporters he would be “looking for the washroom and trying to figure out how the phones work.” But frustrated by his lack of influence and what he called the “glacial pace,” he soon opted to exploit his star power. He was running for president even as he was still getting lost in the Capitol’s corridors.