Incoming White House spokesman Robert Gibbs can count on NPR correspondent Don Gonyea as one of the reliable Thrill Up My Leg fans of the new president. Speaking in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Gonyea suggested Obama on the trail was a “wonder to behold” and his speeches were “like hymns.” Once again, a journalist praises Obama for how he seems utterly unruffled, never pausing to reflect on whether it’s a journalist’s job to ruffle him a bit with a tough question or a tough story:
What sets President-elect Barack Obama apart from other politicians, said National Public Radio reporter Don Gonyea, “is he doesn’t have that thing in him that needs to be loved”…
“He is a very different type of politician, the likes of which I have not seen,” said Gonyea, a 20-year reporter who covered the previous two elections for NPR….
“He ran a remarkable and disciplined campaign. It was a wonder to behold,” Gonyea said.
Early on, rally coordinators would ask supporters to take out their cell phones and text message a campaign number so the campaign could text back announcements in the future.
Obama’s speeches in Iowa were like hymns, he said.
Obama “never got rattled by anything,” Gonyea said.
Although Obama seldom spoke of race, he “saved his candidacy” with a speech on race he wrote in response to news of his pastor’s brow-raising comments.
But what put Obama in a solid winning position was his steady approach to the economic crisis, the reporter said. Advisers told him to suspend his campaign, like McCain tried, but Obama “stayed above it,” he said.