A very smart post from Steven Teles:
I think it’s probably the case that Obama is, in fact, the candidate that Republicans least want to run against. In fact, I think that it’s actually the case that where Obama is concerned, conservatives lack much of the gut-level animus that drives them to really hate HRC, Kerry and Gore. All of these Dems represented what conservatives most hate about liberals–they all represent a liberal style (as apart from substance) that looks down on and dismisses conservatives.
Obama, by contrast, comes from a generation of folks who, while certainly not conservative, have actually engaged seriously with them. Obama taught at U. of Chicago law school, and so he knows that conservatives are driven by a respectable set of ideas. He disagrees with those ideas, but I sense that he knows at least some conservatives who he believes are respectable interlocutors. And I think conservatives know this.
The Dish 