Nice profile piece about Obama's first day in the Senate

[Tweed]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0501040306jan04,1,5464489.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed

"Barack Obama enters the U.S. Senate Tuesday with an almost unprecedented national celebrity that fuels his political power but also threatens to raise unrealistic expectations about what he can accomplish early in his term.

That conundrum creates a tricky juggling act for Illinois' new junior senator. As a Democrat in a Republican Congress, and one at the bottom of the seniority pecking order, he needs the spotlight to leverage his effectiveness. But the more he's in that spotlight, the more his admirers may think he should achieve.

Obama, only a year ago a relatively obscure Illinois state senator, has long said he wants to quiet the storm of attention that engulfed him since he won the March Democratic primary, much of it fueled by the prospect that he could become the nation's highest elected African-American.

Still, he doesn't want to lose the national platform that he gained after giving a rousing and inspiring keynote speech at last summer's Democratic National Convention."

[sd_UDO]

1. Let's see who can be rousing and inspiring on January 6

Obama?

Or Hillary?

Or Kerry?

Or Ted Kennedy?

Feingold?

"One Man Coup" Jeffords?

If they all chicken out, all that's left of the
Democratic Party is the Congressional Black Caucus and
Jefferson's and roosevelt's writings.