"Obamamania"

If something is going around the workplace, chances are it may be more than the flu. "Obamamania" is sweeping the land, as evidenced by his #1 book, recent tour of New Hampshire, and face time on Monday Night Football and Oprah. Russ Smith of the "Baltimore City Paper" writes of the newest political rock star:

Obamamania
by Russ Smith

Most Republicans are reacting to the cultural phenomenon known as Barack Obama by dismissing the public and media adulation as mere hype or citing his short political résumé. There have been some dumb statements made about the first-term Illinois senator this month, but none tops that of Al D'Amato, who lunched at Manhattan's Four Seasons last week with Hillary Clinton and Ed Koch. D'Amato, defeated in 1998 in a bid for a fourth U.S. Senate term, is loyal to the GOP but counseled his colleagues that Clinton is a "very focused, energetic, organized, articulate, bright" senator who'd wage a vigorous presidential campaign in 2008.

He might have added that Clinton will have the advantage of an extraordinary fundraising network, the political chits she's accumulated over the years, and her husband's popularity in the Democratic Party. But then D'Amato, according to The New York Times, brushed off Obama, saying, "You always have a flavor-of-the-month candidate--at one point it was [former] Governor Warner of Virginia, now it's what's-his-name, Obama--but that's not going to hold up to a campaign by Senator Clinton."

It's doubtful either Clinton, desperate for a return to the White House, is so sanguine about the reality of Obama's bandwagon.