Obama's Humility

Despite the fact that Sean Hannity has no better line of attack, and so will repeat it endlessly, Obama is not an arrogant man. His Christian faith informs him heavily, and requires a profound humility. He doesn't believe his election will suddenly solve all of our racial issues in America. He's said again and again that he doesn't think he'll be able to wave his magical hands and pass legislation, or that solving our big problems will be easy with an Obama presidency. In fact, he's said repeatedly that it is only through the power of the people speaking in unison that big change can occur. He explicitly vests his transformative power in the people of America, saying that he himself is only a flawed man who is good at bringing people together.

With Obama's foreign trip in particular, his humility has been highlighted. At the beginning of this trip he emphasized that he would not be conducting foreign policy on the trip, since:

“I’m more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking,” Mr. Obama told reporters before leaving Washington for a trip cloaked in secrecy because of security concerns (ed note: McCain does not share these security concerns). “And I think it is very important to recognize that I’m going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time.”

Finally, he hasn't even been engaging in domestic politics while he's been overseas. This morning in Jordan he had a chance to hit McCain on finally adopting his Afghanistan policy, but instead uses the most conciliatory phrasing, not even obliquely naming McCain. Instead, he said that, "I'm glad that there's a growing consensus at home that we need more resources in Afghanistan." Classy.



The McCain campaign may have made a mistake convincing the media that this election was "about Obama." He sure is looking presidential there in Jordan, isn't he?