No Time For Cue Cards

Check out the juxtaposition between Obama, sitting down with Joe Klein for a wide-ranging interview, and McCain as the cover focus of this weekend’s NYT Mag “remaking of the candidate” story. (The TIME photo essay is worth it, by the way, just for Callie Shell’s sensitive camera work.)

At this point, Obama has more than proved — as the photo reflects — he can think on his feet, and move logically, thoughtfully and with clear judgement as and where the conversation (not to mention, critical issues) move. The illustration is between someone who can speak for himself and someone constantly cramming the last (revised) answer someone just wrote for him.

(image: Todd Heisler/NYT. Scranton, PA. September 2008)