President Obama?

Senator Barack Obama graces the cover of Time Magazine this week. In the last month there has been increasing speculation he may run for President in 2008. He recently spoke at Tom Harkin's Steak Fry in Iowa, an event notoriously attended by presidential candidates. Obama also has written a new book, "The Audacity of Hope," which is bound to become a bestseller. Obama definitely is one of the wildcards, along with Al Gore, that could shake up the '08 primaries. Here is an excerpt from the Time story summary:

The question of when Obama -- who has not yet served two years in the U.S. Senate -- will run for president is omnipresent. That he will eventually run, and win, is assumed by almost everyone who comes to watch him speak. In Davenport a local reporter asks the question directly: "Are you running for president in 2008?"

Obama surprises me by saying he's just thinking about the 2006 election right now, which, in the semiotic dance of presidential politics, is definitely not a no. A few days later, I ask Obama the obvious follow-up question: Will he think about running for President in 2008 when the congressional election is over?

"When the election is over and my book tour is done, I will think about how I can be most useful to the country and how I can reconcile that with being a good dad and a good husband," he says carefully, and then adds, "I haven't completely decided or unraveled that puzzle yet."

-Justin