@Benj,

I’ll try to dig up your dad’s piece.

As an observer of history, I share the German distrust of charisma. I suspect that our learned host does even more so.

(I fear that I don’t know all of your literary references, I am a mere geologist …

That Obama may be Deval Patrick’s twin is a real concern of itself. Not that he’s a bad fellow, just that McCain is so much more serious.

It is precisely that Rohrschach quality of Obama’s rhetoric that worries me so. It is a clever parlor trick, but is it a philosophy of governance? Especially given the challenges facing the next administration. The senator is expert at setting an emotional ambience, but is he capable of horsetrading? As to his cool manner, I detect a rather thin skin. The old geezer has managed to unnerve him pretty badly.

All of this blood-on-the-streets stuff is plain silly. I am hearing it from both sides, though. If Obama loses in a close race there will a lot of disappointed people with a relatively low maturity level. That is the transition that I was talking about – from Hope to Disappointment. (At this point, I think that McCain will win. Obama has a chance to redeem himself at the debates, but he has performed weakly since the convention.)