Obama’s No Man’s Land

Last night Barack Obama continued to squirm through numerous questions about his liabilities, like the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and “bitter.” It was his worst debate performance yet, capping his worst week yet on the campaign. He must be relieved we all expect him to lose the Pennsylvania primary next week.

The debate was tense and turbulent and Obama still had not prepared a better answer for his assertion that small-town voters choose cultural and religious issues to vote on when government fails to improve their economic picture, administration in and administration out. Obama has finessed non-answers before, but last night you could almost see the bandana clenched between his top and bottom teeth, and tied behind his head — the silenced hostage.

For describing some Americans different than himself as bitter, and clinging to guns and religion, there is no way out. For Wright, he is also in a corner from which he will never escape. In my column this week, I described the no man’s land Obama dwells in, neither black nor white, nor elite nor common. It constrains him from telling it like it is. He doesn’t lie, but there is so much Obama won’t say. He also has committed to the high road — a lonely and often ineffective place in politics — so the typical counter-punch or self-pitying defense won’t cut it for him.

Even if Obama is nominated, he will face these same questions again later this year. Right now he walks a fine line between what he tells and what he holds back, but he may need to say more rather than less when the attacks intensify. Because those who aren’t seen as trustworthy aren’t seen as presidential. Just ask Hillary Clinton.

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THE DEBATE! THE BITTERNESS! THE ATTACKS! ASK A.B. returns Monday, April 21 before Pennsylvania votes. Please join me for my weekly Q & A video posts by sending useful, interesting and entertaining questions to askab@digital-stage.thehill.com. We want to talk politics and have a few laughs. Spare us the offensive, unGoogleable, unthinkable or otherwise useless. I look forward to hearing from all of you, often.