The charismatic celebrity-politician had rocketed from the Illinois state legislature to the U.S. Senate, stirring national interest. The challenge was to maintain altitude despite the limited tools available to a freshman senator whose party was in the minority.
Yet even in those early days, Obama and his advisers were thinking ahead. Some called it the "2010-2012-2016" plan: a potential bid for governor or re-election to the Senate in 2010, followed by a bid for the White House as soon as 2012 or, if not, 2016. The way to get there, they decided, was by carefully building a record that matched the brand identity: Obama as unifier and consensus-builder, an almost postpolitical leader.
Well, they haven't deviated from the 'plan' of his image, have they? Except, for the time table seems to have moved up, which they explained in the article.
I thought it was a well-balanced article, pointing out the positive and the negative of Obama's time in the Senate and the possible reasons for some of his more questionable votes.
This was the last in a series of articles about Obama. If you are interested in Barack Obama, these articles are a good place to begin your research.
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