The Obamagasm Award

“Can we just enjoy Obama for a moment? Before the policy choices have to be weighed and the hard decisions have to be made, can we just take a month or two to contemplate him the way we might contemplate a painting by Vermeer or a guitar lick by the early-seventies Rolling Stones or a Peyton Manning pass or any other astounding, ecstatic human achievement? Because twenty years from now, we’re going to look back on this time as a glorious idyll in American politics, with a confident, intelligent, fascinating president riding the surge of his prodigious talents from triumph to triumph....’I am large, I contain multitudes,’ Walt Whitman wrote, and Obama lives that lyrical prophecy....Barack Obama is developing into what Hegel called a ‘world-historical soul,’ an embodiment of the spirit of the times. He is what we hope we can be.”

“By calmly and meticulously overseeing the successful targeting of Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama just proved himself — vividly, in almost Biblical terms — to be an effective commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United States.”

“Full of sunny optimism, very Reaganesque, on and on about American exceptionalism in many, many instances and full of Kennedyesque encouragement to break a new frontier. That Sputnik moment was remarkable....”

Host Charlie Rose: “How is he doing overall in your judgment, the President?”

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: “Solid. I mean, it’s hard to imagine — I’m trying to think in our lifetime if anybody has been dealt a tougher hand coming into the White House. And given that, I think he has done remarkably well....I think people respect him even more than they like him.”

“Is President Obama a baby whisperer? The leader of the free world worked his magic on this munchkin a few days ago at the White House. Now, watch as the First Lady tries to quiet down the fussy little friend....She then hands the bawling baby to the big man and, presto, the tot is simply transfixed.”

“At a community center in the heart of the jostling slum, the President plunged into the lives of children there, playing soccer with kids and watching enthralled at a dazzling martial arts display....The President’s sightseeing Sunday was sure to endear him even more to a diverse and multicultural country where his personal story already makes him popular.”