Is there an incumbent in this race?

As we inch closer to the November election, and I believe we can all agree we are now inching along in an arduous crawl after the rather more racely primary season, instead of learning more about Barack Obama we see his narrative and candidacy re-examined. Interestingly, while many anticipated that a clear victory in the democratic party would affirm Senator Obama's status as a triumphant and transcendent candidate instead he is being dissected from all angles. If Obama was crowned victor at all it was only to celebrate that we no longer have to ask how he appeals to the democratic party because now we can appraise his appeal to the full U.S. political spectrum.

While this may be disconcerting, especially when some democratic supporters glance at the polls and worry that Obama lacks the commanding lead he "should" have (others have intelligently explored reasons why that "should" may be unrealistic). I believe this is actually a good sign. Being examined and re-examined by every constituency is the most presidential treatment one could hope for. It is almost as though Senator Obama is already President Obama, a sentiment his camp helped sediment in all of our minds with Obama's very Presidential world tour two weeks ago.

The Obama braintrust has done a masterful job obliterating the very idea that we are in the midst of an election and instead created a referendum on whether Senator Obama is our chosen leader. What if instead of thinking of the polls as an Obama vs. McCain election, we think of them as Obama's approval ratings with some interloper with his own cult following thrown in to muddy things a bit? I am almost ready to start thinking of Obama as the incumbent. Is it that unrealistic to think of the election in these terms when you look at the difference between the respective media presence of the two candidates (not just the glut of their mentions but also the clout of each candidate's imagery)? And once you start to think of Obama as the incumbent the McCain camp's job is even tougher. Remember how John Kerry was unable to unseat the incumbent George W. Bush whose approval ratings were historically poor?