Some of us whose first vote was for John Kennedy love politicians, and are pretty skeptical of non-pols (and/or visionaries).  Nor we do we hang a nostalgic scrim over certain pols of the past--Robert Kennedy, for instance, who made his bones by helping Joe McCarthy and savaging Jimmy Hoffa (not to mention using some pretty ugly methods to get his brother elected).  In other words, a pol to his fingertips.  

In fact, despite the poignant fantasies of some of his admirers, Obama is indeed a politician, and a good one.  He is not a one-note amateur--a Perot, or a Ventura, or a Wendell Wilkie, or even a Gene McCarthy.  He has policies, he has proposals, he has positions (though it helps to search his website to discover them).  

Nobody gets as far as Obama has in politics solely because of his inspiring rhetoric.  If inspiring rhetoric could do the trick, William Jennings Bryan would have been elected president three times, and Alan Keyes would be serving his second term.

The question is, is Obama enough of a politician to govern?  Part of governing is sweet-talking people; another part is knee-capping them, friends and enemies alike, when something crucial is at stake--i.e.,LBJ, and the Civil Rights Act.

Obama's good at the first, but what about the second?