<table> </table> CHICAGO | Barack Obama strides on stage and I imagine kids calling him &#8220;beanpole.&#8221;</p><p>Sadly, that&#8217;s not too far below the level of depth the candidate provided for the next hour. Like his God-given proportions, this was not all Obama&#8217;s fault.</p><p>Softball questions and the nature of the forum &#8212; a sitdown q-and-a with two moderators as opposed to giving the candidate a podium from which he could address the audience &#8212; likely didn&#8217;t help. The audience was several thousand journalists Sunday in Chicago.</p><p>They were attending the Unity convention, an every-four-year event where the national organizations for black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian journalists meet. Clearly, that was an overwhelmingly friendly audience for the man who will soon make history as the country&#8217;s first bi-racial presidential nominee.</p><p>But the morning did not give me what I had hoped for: an Obama to compare with the Obama Missouri is likely to see this week and through the rest of the summer and fall as he attempts to woo votes in rural portions of the state &#8212; people who are less convinced of his suitability for the White House.</p><p>In Missouri, with 24 new offices established for the candidate, Obama&#8217;s goal will be to present himself and his goals for the office. That will mean giving specifics to how he will help turn the economy around, ensure the nation&#8217;s safety from terrorists and also fulfill his plans to begin bringing the troops home.</p><p>John McCain was to attend the Chicago event, but then cited &#8220;scheduling&#8221; conflicts. Actually, both presumptive candidates at one point had pulled out of addressing the convention, but Obama had the good sense to reschedule. A session with Obama and McCain presenting their positions, then alternately answering the same question would have been preferable.</p><p>But with only one candidate showing in Chicago, I wrongly envisioned Obama speaking deeply on racial issues, addressing nuances sometimes left out of conversations. But he didn&#8217;t go there and no one really pushed him to. The session was televised on CNN, so maybe the candidate feared such a dialogue could be misconstrued by the broader audience.</p><p>Instead, Obama seemed a bit irked that he continues to be asked questions he claims his opponent does not face. To a query about learning from mistakes, he pounced back by asking why reporters don&#8217;t pester John McCain whether his support for going into Iraq was a mistake. The answer would be because it is obvious McCain has not strayed far from his initial support of the war.</p><p>At another point, Obama noted that no one calls McCain&#8217;s excursions to meet with foreign dignitaries &#8220;audacious.&#8221; This of course, was a counter to those who found fault with his recent trip overseas.</p><p>He also commented that he would ask to be treated like other candidates.</p><p>Clearly, Obama does have to dodge some &#8220;darned if he does and darned if he doesn&#8217;t&#8221; quandaries.</p><p>His race provided the grounds for &#8220;not black enough&#8221; questioning early in the campaign. Now, with African Americans overwhelmingly polling in his favor, the fear is he may be viewed as &#8220;too black&#8221; &#8212; or rather too closely aligned with African American issues to the detriment of the general issues of the nation by white voters.</p><p>That is one of the issues he will need to address in rural Missouri. He gave a snippet of how he will likely address some concerns on Sunday. He wisely spoke to the needs of poor white people, noting that class-based barriers to opportunity are as great and insurmountable for many poor white people as race has been for minorities.</p><p>As for the beanpole mockery &#8212; television, as every anchor knows, adds pounds. And for my first live Obama sighting that fact proved true enough.</p><p>Later, at a brunch, someone commented that Obama looked &#8220;presidential.&#8221; I suppressed the beanpole comment, noting instead, &#8220;it&#8217;s a long way to November.&#8221;</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">MORE COLUMNS </span></strong><br /> Mary Sanchez is a nationally syndicated columnist with Tribune Media Services. Read her Tribune column on efforts to have the federal government help with unsolved civil rights murders at <strong>KansasCity.com</strong>.</p><p></div>