The Guardian runs a round of short interviews with people who have met, befriended or worked with Obama over the years. All of them confirm the impression of him on the campaign trail: relaxed, sophisticated, inquisitive, mature, warm but still a tad detached. Personally, I find myself amazed and deeply moved by the way he has retained a calm temperament thouroughout his life despite all the geographical, racial and social mobility. The secret might lie in the following quote from his former employer, Gerald Kellman:
Barack had grown up as an outsider, without a father, as an American kid living abroad and separated from his mother at high school. Outsiders do one of two things: try to be like everyone else or identify with other outsiders. Barack did the latter. He was reflective and willing to identify with people in poverty, with people who faced discrimination.
Obama has probably been a keenly observant outsider all his life. However, I do not agree that he chose to identify with the underdog (underdogs do not usually end up in the White House). He crafted for himself a third solution, a vision of the politician-above-politics, who returns to the basics of "what works" and broad coalitions. This type of politics ties with the type of man he is: sensible, hard-working and essentially optimistic about people's common humanity. For Obama these qualities were not icing on cake; they were necessary to navigate through the mosaic of diverse social groups he had to live with all his life.
That he will become President in a few days is also a result of good chance. After so many years of divisive politics Americans are looking for a uniting voice. Deeply mired in crisis, they will opt for sensible change (Obama) rather than hotheaded experience (McCain). None of these qualities would sell so well four or eight years ago.
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