Presidential politics

In Washington Wire, a WSJ blog, today's political chatter.

Moving on from the scandals, there is surely at least one thing Obama has that other Democratic candidates lack, writes Salon.com’s Walter Shapiro — he’s actually comfortable with himself. But he still has some strides to make. “Since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, certain candidates have had the knack of winning the allegiance (and even the love) of working-class voters without ever pretending that they eat bologna sandwiches for lunch,” Shapiro says. “Obama is still groping for a formula to cross that class divide.” While his unusual background probably won’t let him pull off the “son-of-a-millworker populism,” there’s still the sense that he fully understands the economic hardships voters are facing. Shapiro calls Obama a “work in progress,” but also notes that he “remains the candidate who has displayed the fastest learning curve in recent political memory.”