Don't miss James Fallows' characteristically penetrating piece in the current Atlantic about the seven thousand primary debates and what they reveal about Barack Obama's forthcoming faceoffs with John McCain and even the kind of president he might be, insh'allah. It will likely prove one of very few journalistic exercises worth reconsulting as we try to take the measure of the Obama phenomenon in the years to come.

One of his clear takeaways--but this is almost by-the-by--is that the presumption of TV's so-called moderators is a disgrace, and that the worst offender by far was the late, grandstanding Tim Russert. Fallows is too polite to say so, but a world in which Chris Matthews sounds like the sage of television commentary is--well, it's the world we live in, ain't it the truth.

But I digress. On Obama, Fallows emphasizes that the man's debating style among the Dems put on display Man Thinking, and that, when he was more relaxed, with less to prove, against Alan Keyes in the farcical Illinois Senate race, he was wittier, more commanding. I agree that Obama is Man Thinking, and that this is one of the most attractive things about him. But if we are thinking about Obama in the entirety of the campaign I would emphasize rather more that, when he pulls out the stops, Obama is also Man Orating--conveying rhetoric that carries beyond the occasion. What distinguishes Obama is that he can not only reason but inspire.

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