New Week, Fresh Start

The past week has been a rough one for Barack Obama. What was supposed to be a well-received unveiling of his comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism turned into a seemingly open-ended invitation to attack the Illinois Senator. His campaign to date has been wildly successful spreading its message and filling its piggy bank. For a group accustomed to adoring crowds and press fanfare, a week like this might come as a shock.

If you've missed the events as they unfolded, these two pieces from the Chicago Sun-Times will be a good place to start. Yes, it was that kind of week. The kind of week when you wake up on Sunday to discover that your hometown newspaper is running two critical editorials:

• Obama's tin ear shows his lack of experience
• Obama shouldn't be reactive to critics

But the candidate is 46, now--a year older and a little wiser. The question now is how will Barack Obama and his staff move forward? The criticism faced this past week is certainly the most wide-ranging and sustained that the campaign has faced thus far.

The road is going to get rougher as the primaries draw near. Obama has already warned supporters of this truth. Last week, smooth sailing gave way to rough seas. In this new week, we'll learn a lot about this campaign, and this candidate, by how they navigate the waters ahead.