If the last couple weeks rattled Barack Obama, he sure didn't show it yesterday morning on "Meet the Press." If anything, he looked more poised than ever.

In the past, even when he was riding highest, his answers to questions posed in television interviews were not altogether impressive; they were halting in delivery and lawyerly in wording. More than once, as a victimized viewer, I had wanted to seize him forcibly by the neck, vigorously shake and shout, "Spit it out, man. For God's sake, just spit it out." Yesterday he did, fluidly and self-assuredly. Given all the tangible troubles that plague the world, that may seem like a minor advancement. But it isn't -- for this is television, where it's the sizzle that most often sells.

The two issues he needed to address head on were, of course, the Jeremiah Wright and "bitter" affairs. And here, his improved preparation not only clearly showed, it was politically masterful in its verbal construction.

Wright, naturally, was first out of the gate, with Tim Russert noting [1] what virtual battalions of pundits have charged: "Only when he made it politically uncomfortable for you did you finally separate yourself from him." For political wordsmiths, Obama's response was a thing of beauty:

Oh, I think it, back several weeks ago, it was already pretty politically uncomfortable.... What really changed was a sense that he was going to double down on the statements that he had made before, and, and to me that told, that, that indicated to me that he was not -- that he did not share my fundamental belief and my fundamental values in terms of bringing the country together and moving forward, and the pride that I've got for this country. And, you know, one thing that I want to make absolutely clear is that what's best about this country, what, what leads me to run for president is that we've been a force for good in the world. We have obviously made mistakes -- and I spoke about this in Philadelphia -- we have a tragic history when it comes to race. But that doesn't define us, and it certainly doesn't define me.

With that -- with the "double down" characterization especially -- Obama rebutted the punditry's carping with almost issue-ending expansiveness. And he did it with the use of a vernacular that nearly anyone could sympathize with: Look, I gave a friend the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he didn't mean to be as abrasive as he seemed. But when he publicly reinforced his comments and left no doubt [the implication being there was room for doubt] -- when, but only when, the schmuck doubled down -- well, that I cannot tolerate.

Obama also folded in words such as "fundamental values" for the you-know-who crowd, "bringing the country together" as a reminder for the unity crowd, "pride" in his country for the patriotic crowd, and then looped the entire issue back to the "tragic history" of race -- all of which simultaneously embraced and rejected the "retiring" Jeremiah Wright. As I said: a thing of pure beauty.

As was Obama's answer to Russert's indirectly asked question about his "bitter" remarks: You have real trouble with "white voters who do not have college degrees. How do you connect with them? What's wrong?"

At that, the pathos positively dripped from the screen.

I think it's important for people to understand not only that I was raised by a single mom and, and my grandparents, and the values of hard work and decency and honesty that they've passed on to me, that those are values that are rooted in the heartland of America and small-town America. My, my wife, Michelle, you mentioned earlier, you know, when I think about her father, who worked as a shift worker for the city of Chicago, despite having MS, got up every single day and went to work, was able to raise a family and send his two kids to college and, and support a family of four on a single salary. I think about your father and the fact that, that your dad, Tim, looked nothing like Michelle's dad, but they lived that same American dream and, and they had those same core values.... And my job in this campaign is to communicate the fact that not only are those values at the core of what this country's about, not only are those values what make me patriotic, but those are the values that have to be fought for because that American dream is slipping away.

Again, politically astute answers just don't come any more astute than that. Obama invoked simplicity, family, personal travails, community connections of different races and generations, a Currier & Ives or Norman Rockwell scene with a troubled horizon that only a man who comes from America's "heartland" -- hear that, New York? -- could understand and -- are you still listening, New York? -- fight for. And he invoked it all with almost flawless delivery.

He also pointedly laid waste to Hillary's most recent deployment of laughable pandering. I write of course of her "gas tax holiday," which Obama managed to skewer with an easy graciousness; one, that is, that avoided direct personal attacks and framed the demagoguery as the tired, political business as usual that it is:

Senator Clinton's own staff told The Washington Post, "We don't think this is really going to go anywhere. We don't think it's going to work, but we think it's a good issue to use in a campaign." And that's what Washington does. We, we, we don't deal with the serious issues that are in front of us, we try to figure out what's going to poll well and what can we do to get through the next election.

As for Hillary's "obliterate" remark, Obama's response was concisely but strategically lethal: "Well, it's not the language that we need right now, and I think it's language that's reflective of George Bush."

I can think of no other four-word phrase that's more devastating to one's ideological reputation these days than the exquisite application of, "reflective of George Bush." Dance away with quixotic merriment over Hillary's "gas tax holiday" if you feel so moved, but ponder as well, even if just for a moment, the pandering implications of Hillary's now all-too-familiar saber rattling. For ideas do indeed have consequences.

All in all, Obama's much-anticipated appearance on "Meet the Press" was a boffo performance. By forcing a sharpening of his delivery, adversity seems to have done him a huge favor.