EVENING UPDATE,  JANUARY 29,  2008

•   We await returns from Florida.  If Romney pulls it out on the GOP side, he has a new lease on life going into Super Tuesday next week.  If McCain wins, though, in a state in which only Republicans can vote in the primary, he can properly claim that his party's legions are behind him, and not just the independents who boosted his tallies in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

On the Democratic side, the primary is not considered valid by the Democratic National Committee, so the results will be blurred, no matter what they are.  This will be the second disputed primary for Democrats, the first being Michigan.  Michigan and Florida are two of our largest states, and you would think the Democratic Party would be able to straighten out its internal affairs before election year. 

•   The Kennedy love fest for Obama is now memory, but there's no question that all the publicity gave Obama a sizable boost within his party, where the Kennedy name still has some value.  Still, there was something pathetic about the whole thing.  The Kennedys endorsed a man with a far smaller record than John F. Kennedy had when he ran in 1960, and Jack Kennedy's record was considered slim by the standards of the time.  Those standards, due in part to the trauma of the depression and World War II, were more substantial than the standards of today.

Apparently, the Kennedys are impressed by Obama's ability to "inspire" young people.  Fine.  That's good - if you're a soccer coach.  We expect a bit more in a president.  The Washington Post's Neely Tucker wrote a provocative piece tinged with the cynicism so many must feel toward that sixties-style Kennedy rally yesterday.  A key quote:

The political and social legacy of the late president -- Camelot, the Big Myth, the story of American royalty, a sense of Americans being awestruck by themselves -- was gift-wrapped by the Kennedy family yesterday and given to Sen. Barack Obama, a political gift with remarkable and remarkably strange baggage.  

Today we return to the basic questions:  Who is Barack Obama?  What does he really believe?  Who is he actually for?  The Post's story concludes:

We are never more than the myths we tell ourselves we are. Yesterday, the ideals of one of the nation's most beloved presidents were handed down for a new generation. It should make for a good story. 

That's right.  It's a great story.  But it's a story about a man who may wield vast power, the power of life and death.  It isn't just journalism.

One of the sad things about the Obama "story" is that it seems to leave out so many members of the great Democratic coalitions of the past, the kind of people who worked hard, followed the law, and rushed to the recruiting stations when the trouble began.  I didn't see those people at the rally yesterday.  Maybe they were on the sides, but I couldn't find them, any more than I could find them at the McGovern rallies in 1972.  Obama, it is said, appeals heavily to the elites and to the young. ( Of course, the elites often exhibit a level of maturity that more or less matches the young).  But there is something missing in the Obama movement, something at the heart and soul of what was once a great party.  What is missing is that mass of people who make America work, who keep it going, who stand guard.  They may have their say in November.

•   More on Obama.  John Hinderaker, at Power Line, has a terrific piece on Obama's attempts to explain things to pro-Israel voters.  He has some explaining to do, and the issues involved go far beyond Israel.  They go to the heart of American foreign policy and Obama's view of this nation's place in the world.  His advisers are heavily anti-Israel, as is the pastor of the church he voluntarily joined.  The pastor can also fairly be called anti-American, and one wonders why an aspiring politician would choose him as his spiritual adviser.  It's a legitimate question.  If Governors Romney and Huckabee can be asked about the impact of their religious choices on their political views, so can Senator Obama.  But watch attempts in the coming months to shut down that discussion.

•   Meanwhile, John Edwards, with time on his hands between haircuts, dreams of a brokered convention.  Now, class, who do you think would be the broker?  The quote:

While dismissing suggestions that this implied Edwards had accepted he was out of contention for the nomination, Deputy Campaign Manager Jonathan Prince said the candidate would probably get enough delegates to play a decisive role in tipping the Democratic nomination under party rules.

Can you see it?  Edwards holds court.  Hillary walks in.  They talk.  "You know, John, I've always loved your hair.  I'm hurt when people laugh at it.  It...does something for me, something Bill's hair has never done.  I'd love hair like that in my cabinet."  Don't put it past her.

But Edwards would go with Obama.  He's run the most left-leaning campaign of any of the Democratic leaders, and he couldn't just turn around and give his nod to Hillary, a candidate seen by many on the left as, hush this up, a moderate.  He'd be rewarded with the post of attorney-general.  He could add much to the department's ability to use junk science in trials. 

•   Note on a passing.  Margaret Truman has died at 83.  She was one of the most famous of the presidential children, and at one time had been an aspiring opera singer.  This led to a famous incident during her father's administration.  Young Margaret had put on a recital, and got a savage review in The Washington Post.  Her father was so incensed that he wrote what was described as a very un-presidential letter to the critic.  It was so strong that his staff intervened, and finally persuaded him not to mail it.  But the story managed to leak out, and was interpreted as meaning either that Truman was 1) a volatile clown who couldn't control his temper, or 2) a wonderful, protective father.  Make your own choice. 

Margaret Truman married Clifton Daniel, who went on to become executive editor of The New York Times.  When I was a young editor at The Times, I would sometimes see her in the employees' cafeteria with her children, looking and acting like any mother.  She never embarrassed her family, and conducted herself well.

•   And a new study confirms what everyone knows - that middle age can truly be depressing.  (I wonder how much some foundation paid for this?)  The key quote:

The British and U.S. researchers found that happiness for people ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe follows a U-shaped curve where life begins cheerful before turning tough during middle age and then returning to the joys of youth in the golden years. 

The story includes the expected speculation as to why this is true. 

However, the researchers say that if you make it to 70, you should be fine.  I'll tell you when I get there.  For now, the study provides one more reason not to elect a president in his forties.  Okay, I shouldn't inject politics into science, but the temptation overwhelmed me.

Be back tomorrow.  In the meantime, you might be interested in the next item, about a famous quote we've tried to track down,.

Posted on January 29, 2008.