SHALLOW BARACK?….Matt Yglesias hangs a long post about Barack Obama on this opening sentence:
One anti-Obama meme that I notice has gotten a lot of support even among people sympathetic to his cause is the notion that he’s somehow shallow or insufficiently well-versed in policy matters.
I’m confused. Who says this? There are no links in the post, and virtually everything I’ve ever read about Obama acknowledges that he’s scary smart and extremely well briefed.
Now, it’s true that Hillary Clinton is often portrayed as a policy wonk and Obama isn’t. It’s also true that Obama’s stump speech is full of soaring rhetoric rather than policy talk. And it’s additionally true that Obama is sometimes criticized for his lack of experience on the national stage. But those are different things entirely. Who are these people who think Obama is a policy naif? Let’s name some names.
UPDATE: Jon Chait tosses out a name: Time’s Mark Halperin. Seems like a little bit of a stretch to me, but judge for yourself. It’s #16 on Halperin’s list.
