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You can see it in their eyes.

It’s the best part about watching sports. Or watching politics. Sometimes — and it is rare enough that it should be treasured — a person who makes their living in the public eye goes to a place where they are simply beyond the competition. Other people do it, too — but these are the ones we get to witness and remember.

The guys who make their living by filling dead air during sports broadcasts will tell you “he’s taken his game to another level,” that “he’s really got his best stuff today,” or that “he’s really locked in.”

They overuse the phrases; partly because it’s their job to sell the spectacle, and partly because overusing cliches is what being a sports broadcaster is all about. But sometimes they mine a nugget of absolute truth — and the ‘locked in’ cliche is the one that comes closest to describing that moment.

It’s rare, but it’s not hard to recognize. First, the eyes are a giveaway — they’ll be staring down whatever’s in front of them. If there’s nothing there, they’ll be staring down air. Second, there’s no hesitation in their actions. They know what they’re going to do, and they are so certain it’s the right move that they honestly haven’t considered the possibility of it failing. Third, they almost seem to want someone to challenge them. They’re so certain they’ve got it that every situation is another chance to prove it.

When a baseball pitcher has it, you’ll see him throw one fastball after another into the strike zone, daring a batter to swing. You’ve seen it in the NFL, in Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, when their opponents are driving to take the lead in the fourth quarter and they’re on the sidelines, barely paying attention — they know they’ll get the ball back and they’re planning to score.

You’ve seen it on the ice, when Nicklas Lidstrom waltzes along the outside inch of the blueline, daring a defender to challenge him and offer an opening by reaching for the puck. When Tiger Woods sinks an incredible putt and then solemnly walks to the next hole without celebration, hand-slapping or chit-chat.

When you watch a basketball player who is locked in, you don’t notice it because he’s making his baskets. You notice it because there’s not a moment of hesitation once the ball is in his hands — at this point, he’s so completely in his element that his mind and body have reached a harmony that not too many people experience without the aid of psychotropic substances.

This is how Barack Obama is feeling these days. And I’m fairly certain he’s not high.

Since Friday’s presidential debate, it seems from Obama’s public appearances like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. It could be attributed to climbing polls numbers or an increasingly embarrassing campaign by his rival.

But I don’t think so. I think it’s because Obama reared back and threw his best heater at the debate, and he knows John McCain swung and missed.

That debate has been called a slight win for Obama, or a draw. But the polling numbers aren’t what this is about. What Obama takes away from that debate is the unshakable belief that John McCain can’t hit the fastball.

Obama was almost completely honest during that debate. He didn’t take the opportunity (as John McCain did) to misrepresent his opponent’s position; he didn’t lie, cheat or twist anybody’s words; he didn’t dumb down his platform or back down from statements that he knew McCain would use against him. In short, he was himself, and it seems to have worked.

And that seems to have given him back his fire. The man has been killing it. Not just with rhetoric (which was always there) but with purpose and decisiveness and humour. He’s loving this.

Below is the footage from a speech in Virginia yesterday. It’s 26 minutes long, but if you take the time to watch it, you’ll see exactly what I mean.

The man is locked in. He knows that the platform he’s offering is better than the other guy’s. He believes in his own message. He likes the people he’s talking to. You would have to come down with an ugly case of cynicism to not at least enjoy what you’re seeing in this speech.

Using sports cliches has become a cliche in itself on this damned blog. But when it comes to politics, the comparisons really are apt, especially in America.

Both rely on a vicious ebb and flow of momentum, the fervent support of large numbers of people, an epic sense of spectacle and bearing witness to history and ultimately the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat and the loser’s anthem of ‘wait ’till next year.’

Obama’s played ball. He knows how it feels to get hot from long-range; to take a few shots and watch gleefully as everything swishes. But by his own admission he’s not an incredible basketball player. He’s been ‘hot’ on the court but never ‘locked in’. As a politician however …

… he is absolutely locked in right now. The ability is always there, but right now the mind is perfectly aligned with his goals. He’s so calm and intense at the same time. It is, in all honesty, a spectacle worth seeing. There’s a kind of awesome inevitability in the way he is carrying himself right now — like Mariano Riviera jogging in from the bullpen to ‘Enter Sandman’ played at 11.

The goal is close enough now that he can taste it. All he has to do is keep hauling back and daring McCain to hit the heater.

(Here’s the video: Passionate, funny, uplifting, absolutely stinging criticism of the McCain/Republican ideology … just watch it. It’s quite possibly the best stump speech you will ever see. It’s a hell of a performance.)

“I am running for president because the dreams of the American people are too important to have EIGHT more years, FOUR more years, ONE more year of this NONSENSE! Enough is enough!”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ctgw9VyV_0]