Take Me Out to the Obama Game

I don’t know much about baseball, except that I love washing down Dodger dogs with a good beer and get chills when I hear that “krak” that means a batter has knocked a ball out of the park.

Anyone who doesn’t realize that Obama was at the top of his game during last night’s address must not have noticed that, in addition to hitting homers, he also stole some bases. Not once, not twice, but several times he brought the Republican side of the room to its feet to cheer his remarks. Dodger dog, anyone?

In the game of leadership, Obama appears to be even more of a Natural than Robert Redford in the baseball-themed nineties movie of that name. Or, is it just that the Bad News Team on the Right is so inept that they inadvertently have sent Obama soaring over the opinion polls scoreboard?

When John McCain took Obama to task over the cost of his helicopters in a news briefing earlier yesterday, Obama turned him into a straight man, using his remarks as a setup for getting supportive laughs. Republicans cannot, repeat cannot, fluster the President with an unexpected question. He is most adept when responding on his feet, much better at playing “backatcha” than Republicans are at “gotcha.”

A better illustration of Republicans clutching-up at bat is their choice of Bobby Jindal to make the followup address. Ok, he’s brown. We get it, Republicans are inclusive too. But they are playing T-ball in the big leagues here. Jindal’s deer-in-the-headlights demeanor, his stilted delivery, and his repetition of the same tired Republican push-back made Obama’s message appear stronger and more sincere than it already did.

And Jindal fooled no one with his disingenuous comparison of his own immigrant heritage to Obama’s. Leave it to the GOP to mix racism and terrorist fears in one steaming dish, and slyly serve it up to a nation that now hungers for hope and optimism.

If Bobby Jindal is the frontrunner for the Republican Presidential nominee in 2012, someone should send him back to the batting cage. His comparison of Obama’s new programs to the pathetic Republican response to Hurricane Katrina was stunningly inept, a reminder of all the reasons we elected a Democrat in the last election.

But Obama’s leadership skills have not been highlighted by Republican errors alone. In last night’s speech he made it clear that he is not the Centrist that many decry, but is somewhere Left of that label. He will not, as many predicted, delay the fight to provide affordable health care insurance for every American. He will not apologize for allowing tax cuts for the rich to expire. And even though his timeline for ending the war in Iraq may have lengthened from 16 months to 19, it remains a priority that was applauded even by former hawk John McCain.

Did you hear that “krak?”