His campaign team wants it, yes, and his party, and his wife. But if meeting donors and lawmakers is such a drag, and campaigning such a chore, maybe he’d rather be home in Chicago, spending time with his family and small circle of close friends. At work, only his students would press him for answers. And at parties, he could indulge his kindhearted inclination to seek out the oldest person in the room and settle in to hear his stories.
There are more introverts than you might think in his business, just as in mine, actually; both are chockablock with people who might never speak to anyone without a call list to get through or a notepad in hand.
Only, in love, in work, and in politics, desire is at least as important as affinity; you actually have to want it, and show that that’s the case. Anyone can have an off night or two, of course. Obama’s last couple of major outings, though, were so lacking in oomph that he seemed weary of going on.
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