NORTHAMPTON - When city attorney Tom Lesser spoke with President Barack Obama at a White House reception last week, he mentioned a passage from "Dreams From My Father" that the two had talked about before.

As Lesser paraphrased it in a recent interview at his law office, Obama wrote of the barriers people face and the struggle to overcome them. He wrote, Lesser recalled, that though we may be "locked in worlds not of our own making," we nonetheless have the means to shape them.

He'd mentioned the passage to Obama one of the times they'd spoken during the primaries, he said. Lesser, 63, was an early, active supporter who raised $500,000 for Obama, helped run his primary and general election campaigns in western Massachusetts, and served on the campaign's New England Steering Committee. He lives in Conway.

Last Wednesday, he was at the White House, having received one of about 400 invitations that went out for the Hanukkah reception. When the president paused to say hello, Lesser reminded him of that earlier conversation.

"I told him that it must be so hard, but that I think he's done a remarkable job of shaping the worlds he has found himself in," Lesser said, dealing with two wars and a weak economy.

Though that part of their exchange was serious, Lesser said the two also bantered a bit, as they have before. Lesser acknowledged that he was, after all, paraphrasing "a pretty good author," and Obama countered that, yeah, the quote was from a writer who was doing the best he could.

"He was incredibly present," said Lesser, describing the quality he said he's seen in every exchange with Obama.

Whether expressing his thanks for words of support or letting his wry sense of humor show, Obama focuses on the person he's talking to, Lesser said. "He recognizes you and he remembers you. He's not looking at his watch, or looking around him to see who's next," Lesser said.

"That's a remarkable quality in anyone, but especially a politician. There are some politicians you meet and you get the feeling that there's no one home, or that the persona they're projecting is not who they really are. I've never had that feeling with him."

Gala event

The Hanukkah reception - dubbed "one of the hottest holiday events for the nation's Jewish elite" by the New York Times - was one of many gala parties the Obamas have hosted of late.

Inside, the mansion was decorated with glittering trees, greenery and glowing lights. Lesser said he and the other guests were invited to walk through the public rooms on the first floor, before heading up to the second-floor grand foyer. There, a student choir sang Jewish songs, as guests helped themselves to refreshments - including kosher lamb chops, sushi and latkes - that had been set out on tables. After Vice President Joe Biden arrived, Lesser said, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama came down the staircase from the third floor.

In a brief ceremony, the children and wife of a soldier serving in Iraq lighted a silver menorah that had been rescued from the Nazis and is on loan to the White House from a museum in Prague. After remarks in which the president spoke of the inspiration of the Hanukkah story, the Obamas and Biden spent about an hour greeting their guests. It was the first time Lesser had met Michelle Obama, and he took the opportunity to invite her to visit western Massachusetts - perhaps during the re-election campaign. "Why should we wait that long?" she replied.

Lesser had tried repeatedly to arrange a visit for her during the 2008 campaign, he said later, but given the intense competition for her time, it never happened.

Declining support

Despite the beautiful, festive White House setting, Lesser, as reflected in his brief exchange with the president, was keenly aware that Obama is facing intense scrutiny and harsh criticism, some of it from erstwhile supporters. One recent poll showed his approval rating dipping below 50 percent for the first time, and another found that only 33 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction.

Asked about those sliding poll numbers, Lesser suggested taking a longer view.

"We are still at the very beginning of this presidency," he said, and it's still a bit soon to be expressing outrage about what has or hasn't happened.

In today's political climate, "people want things to happen very quickly. I understand that," he said, adding that he has felt that way often himself, especially during the years of anti-war protest in the late 1960s. "I learned that things change slowly, that how we think changes slowly."

The administration faces a crucial test, Lesser said, as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote today on its version of a health care bill. After that, the Senate bill and the bill passed by the House of Representatives will have to be reconciled and finally approved.

Though the Senate bill will offer coverage to millions, it is hardly perfect, Lesser said. It doesn't do enough to contain costs or provide enough in subsidies, he said, but there is no question that failure to win passage would be "very damaging" to Obama's political standing. "It would give the Republicans the feeling they can do whatever they want."

Asked about criticism that Obama gave Congress too much latitude to write the bill and didn't fight hard enough for it, Lesser said his sense was that the administration was trying to avoid the pitfall of the Clinton approach of handing Congress a ready-made bill "and watching it be torn to shreds."

The health care debate has shown once again, Lesser said, the country's deep, bitter partisan divide. "That was something he was trying to stop, and he hasn't been able to do that."

On Afghanistan, Lesser said Obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops is consistent with what he said during the campaign. "No one who listened to him should have been surprised," he said.

That said, Lesser described the challenge there in daunting terms.

"I don't think anyone has ever succeeded in that country," Lesser said. "But I think he thought long and hard about it, and he has a lot more information than I do. I think he believes it would be an absolute disaster there if we just left now."

With 2008 now history, Lesser is looking ahead. He's working on Martha Coakley's bid to succeed the late Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate, and is on the lookout for other strong candidates to support.

Asked if he had any final words for those who are ready to label the Obama presidency a disappointment, Lesser said he would appeal for more time. Paying less attention to pundits - who are often wrong, he pointed out - might also help, he said. And finally, he would urge people to work for candidates who will fight for the measures they support.

"We can't create change by talking about it," he said. "We have to get more votes."

Suzanne Wilson can be reached at swilson@gazettenet.com.