Obama's Long Plan

Noam Scheiber has an excellent piece on David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager. Just as interesting is this reader comment:

Plouffe is calm, highly knowledgeable and disciplined. Businesslike in the best sense of the term. I heard him speak and answer questions in June and October of 2007 and he said almost the same thing both times. Consistency is an underreported strength of the Obama campaign (and Obama himself) and Plouffe deserves a lot of credit for maintaining that consistency. They devised a strategic plan early and have stuck by it. Today, they are on the precipice of completing one of the greatest upsets in American political history. PS - That leaked February 6 delegate spreadsheet continues to amaze with its accuracy and insight, only underestimating the Obama margin of victories. It lays out the minimum path to victory for Obama in pledged delegates. The final delegate spread shown on June 7 is Obama +67. If you include the pledged delegates of Michigan and Florida (giving the 55 Michigan uncommitted to Obama), the Obama margin becomes +1.

I've been struck by how calm Obama seems in the face of all this Clinton drama. It helps to recall that he never expected this to be easy or anything but extremely close. And he's still ahead. And still the overwhelming favorite. Against the biggest brand in Democratic politics as a freshman senator. WIth a little perspective, the calm makes more sense.