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Let me say a couple of words about what prompted it. For my money, Obama has something like political "perfect pitch." I've never seen anything like it. He may have made a couple of small missteps, but for the most part he has been turning in a virtuoso performance, always hitting it just right. People keep offering him advice on boards like this. Usually they are wrong, and Obama makes a much more skillful move than anybody else has thought of. He hits clean, but he hits hard. He never causes you to fear that he is becoming the enemy. I read people like Drew Westen and George Lakoff, and watch Obama doing things that show his profound understanding of what is happening, what responses will work, and how to get his desired effect. I don't know if he's coming from instinct or from tutoring. Most likely both. He does some things that Lakoff and Westen wouldn't approve of, but they work anyway. He knows how to play the emotional game, but he never resorts to plucking the anger and fear chords. He plays the emotional nerve networks, but his appeal is to the healthier emotins of personal mastery, love, and altruism. So I just sit back and watch. I have no impulse to offer advice, because I'm a chela. at his feet.
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