The author's main point is that Obama is still stands for the same ideas that he did in his first campaign, hope and a bright future for America. Dionne points out the main goals of Obama's plan" an expansion of manufacturing, energy independence, education and job training, climate change". Obama advocates the obligations of citizens to future generations, and of the government to the citizens. This leads the author to compare Obama to John F. Kennedy when he compels Americans to first ask themselves what they can do for their country. He also points out the sharp contrast between the philosophies of Obama and Romney, writing that Romney's campaign focused more on individual success through less regulations, while Obama's plan was aimed at long term success through cooperation between the middle class and government. Dionne makes it clear that he has full confidence in Obama, he reemphasizes this throughout the article.
This article is in response to Obama's critics accusing him of being a collectivist and a socialist. It tries to liberate Obama from all of the burdens that have been put on him. It does this by showing all good that Obama's ideas could do for America. It also points out the flaws in the Republicans plan, the author believes that the Republican's plan will not work and are only beneficial to the upper class, though I feel that his opinions are very biased.
Simply put this article is an attempt by the author to persuade the reader that Obama is the better presidential candidate. He uses many techniques to accomplish this, but he mainly focuses on using emotional persuasion ( pathos). An example is when he talks about how Obama cares about future generations and the world we will leave for our