“We have not fully made our case yet,” Barack Obama conceded to James Traub to help explain why the Illinois Senator trails Hillary Clinton by roughly 20 points in national polls of Democratic voters.
Traub was on Obama’s plane to write a profile for this week’s New York Times Magazine. “Generally, talking to people who are running for president is such an unrewarding thing to do because they’re so programmed,” Traub says. “I think in Obama’s case he feels more like a person.”
Though Obama continues to trail Clinton, Traub recounts a story from a former official in Bill Clinton’s administration to illustrate why many foreign policy experts support Obama:
“This guy said, ‘You know, when I talk to Hillary she always knows the answer. Her answers are fantastic, she always knows the answers. But she’s not listening to me. She’s not receiving anything from me. When I talk to Obama I feel here is an open minded person.”
