As appears increasingly inevitable, Barack Obama’s wave of popularity continued to swell today as he trounced Hillary in the Wisconsin primary - his ninth victory in a row.

To what can we attribute this phenomenon? As James Taranto pointed out in his column today, Obama enjoys an almost cult-like stature among many of his supporters.

Although I find it difficult to imagine this country would elect to the presidency a man of such modest experience, the history of the world is replete with examples of charismatic men who rode to power on the strength of their charisma. And charisma Mr. Obama exudes in abundance.

Tonight while watching him, I was mesmerized, although afterward felt hard pressed to remember much that he said (except for one idea - that of forgiving student loan debt in exchange for national service - very JFK).

A comment on the part of my friend Rick got me thinking: Rick noted that from a purely physical perspective, Mr. Obama looks neither black nor white.

“What I mean,” Rick said, “is when you watch him and listen to him, you don’t on any level process him as a black man or a white man, just as a man.”

Maybe this sounds a little silly, but I think Rick is on to something. In a sense, Mr. Obama’s looks capture the spirit of this era of multiculturalism. On the surface, this is of course obvious: he is a man of mixed race with an eclectic ethnic and geographical background. But it’s also true that one could not computer-generate a more perfectly divided blend of black and white in terms of the physical traits and characteristics one might associate with those terms in our culture.

I wonder how much of Mr. Obama’s meteoric rise might be attributed to his effective use of his biracial background and unique good looks to create a kind of iconic stature for himself that has become symbolic–even spiritually–of a transcendence over the whole tiresome, polarizing, and limiting concept of “race.”

It’s fascinating and great. But where this almost-spiritual transcendence leaves us in terms of practical matters I don’t know. Mr. Obama seems so supremely confident, however, he may just convince the nation.

For better or for worse.

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