I’m considering the possibility Obama is a true empath. The portrayals as professor, teacher, analyst, even cynical politician don’t really satisfy me about him. When he turns each social question on two sides repeatedly, what may be in operation is a need to be inside all parties to the question. I think what really what seems to set him apart is empathy for the other. Not phony like Clinton, but internally driven. His inability to address a mistake flows from this as well, you just didn’t hear him as he morphed to absorb the error and convert it.

His childhood as an outsider, the sense of not having his father, of missing some connection others have – I know a little bit about this. He may have very sensitive radar essentially forces him to see the other point of view and try to somehow integrate it into a reconciliation. A need to attach, to knit together.

This may not be the best profile for a CinC.

Paul Starobin, in National Journal, contrasts McCain where honor may be a blinder with Obama where empathy may be a blinder. An intriguing read.

Another thing to consider about empathy, from Wickipedia:

Empathy is the capacity to recognize or understand another’s state of mind or emotion. It is often characterized as the ability to “put oneself into another’s shoes”, or to in some way experience the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself.
It is important to note empathy does not necessarily imply compassion. Empathy can be ‘used’ for compassionate or cruel behavior.