The Figurehead

[Also Bumped] Sometimes, in spite of myself, I can’t resist liking Barack Obama. Because when the occasion calls for it, the man usually shows real class.

Imagine this. You’re a candidate for President, and a black one at that. At a campaign stop, some unidentified potential nutjob carrying a massive telephoto lens — at least you hope that’s a camera he’s shooting — starts screaming that you didn’t lead off with the Pledge of Allegiance. What’d Obama do? This:

Obama invited the heckler to lead the audience in the pledge, and he did.

Attendees at the gathering in the gymnasium at Baldwin Wallace College in this Cleveland suburb rose to their feet and recited the pledge. “Thank you, sir, appreciate it,” Obama told the man…

Campaign officials said they did not know who the man was, and no effort was made to remove him. He continued taking photographs throughout Obama’s appearance.

If the US had a European-style system, with a Chancellor to run things and a figurehead President to take care of ceremonial duties, I’d vote for Obama for the latter position. In a heartbeat. And since he’s from Chicago, I might even vote for him twice.

UPDATE: This guy thinks that the Pledge of Allegiance Guy was an Obama Campaign plant. If that’s the case, then when I typed “class” up top, what I meant to say was “déclassé.”