It is very American, but tends to view the incongruities of politics with the distant gaze of an outsider. We added Powell, described as a young man adrift, although few friends recall thinking him as someone so lost. And there may be a bit exaggerated his youthful experimentation with marijuana. (In November, an Iowa voter asked if he, unlike Bill Clinton, had inhaled. Obama looked confused: “I never understood that phrase,” he said, what the intention was to inhale. “) Has a reputation for be authentic and insists on maintaining calm.

Did not interview each candidate to campaign wizard, but set a rule: do not accept people who dramatize things. Trust only a handful of advisers, particularly David Axelrod, campaign guru who appreciates the Chicago-style politics and rarely shows agitated by what the yardstick of success of his profession, electoral wins and losses. When you are warned in February that it had won the primary in Maine, a state of great white majority in which expected to lose, he nodded, mumbled “how well” and continued with his conversation. He jokes with his Secret Service agents and load their own bags to get off planes and buses. Jog to the stage with the safety of an athlete. Have moderate tastes, prefer organic tea to a measure of gin, salmon rather than a steak, a fruit plate rather than a potato chip. Jokes about a beer, but not more than a drink or two, to show on TV is a “regular guy.” But it is his inexperience as a candidate.