Work it out

1. The Constitution identifies very few formal qualifications for the presidency; but each election year, voters evaluate the candidates' informal qualifications. As you read or reread this article, list the attributes that Barack Obama has that may or may not make him a good president. Compare your list with another student's, and discuss whether you would support Obama for president based on the attributes the article identifies.

2. The article highlights several members of Obama's campaign team. What qualities do they have? What jobs do they do? Based on what you've read, how important do you think the behind-the-scenes people are to Obama's campaign? How important might they be to a president? In other words, how much do you think a leader actually does, and how much do the rest of the people on the team do? To help you answer the questions, think about leaders you know and the people who work for them. How important is the support team?

© 2008