Obama Americana

Frank Rich's most recent column pointed out that "Americans" are tired of hearing about Obama, which is actually the McCain attack/deflect attention machine's fault. Possible subtext: Americans aren't just tired of hearing about Obama, but about "others" in general. After all, as leaked by Obama insiders, the plan seems to be to use the Democratic Convention to create an "all-American image" for Barack, to "tackle what members of both parties see as his greatest vulnerability with undecided voters: his 'otherness.'" 

                Speculation about his vice-presidential pick at the moment, center around two "normal" guys, Evan Bayh, Tom Kaine, and the slightly less normal Joe Biden, furthering the sense that otherness is next to un-electability-ness. Wonder about last week's reportage about "growing diversity in swing counties" could make a lot of this de-othering process not as necessary as his handlers think.