Barack Obama has won enough delegates to be the nominee of the Democratic Party for the Presidency of the United States. Sit and think about that for a minute. A man of mixed racial heritage, raised in a less than prosperous houshold, worked his way into scholarships to top schools, was elected to the Illinois State Senate and later the US Senate. Now, he is the presumed nominee of a major party to be the President of the United States. This guy is Horatio Alger on steroids!
What's more, he secured the nomination in an amazing upset win over one of the most effective political operations of the last 30 years. People seem to forget now that less than a year ago, Hillary Clinton was proclaimed the "inevitable" nominee. She started the primary season with a 20 point lead over the rest of the Democratic field - including Obama. She herself said that the campaign would be over by February 5th. In pulling off this amazing upset, he perfected the internet fund raising techniques pioneered by Howard Dean in 2004. His victory dependended in part on his victories in states with minimal African American populations - states like Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, North Dakota and Montana.
And consider this as well. The candidate he narrowly defeated was the most successful woman candidate in history.
This is a very important day in American history. So hear's to you Barack Obama!
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Historic Candidacy
Posted by Raised By Republicans at 4:33 AM
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Without any institutional support in the party - except the Kennedys, which was crucial - Obama has stormed the castle. It's quite amazing. It's Obama's party now, and the DNC is probably still reeling from what happened. This was an insurgent campaign from day one. It will transform the Democratic party.
Just think of all the faces - starting with Terry McAuliffe - who are now more or less unemployed.
Obama's upset victory in the race for the Democratic nomination is astonishing and historic. Everything about his campaign so far has been larger-than-life, not least of which has been the Obama campaign's incredible success in organization and fundraising. He has indeed stormed the castle: the Democratic Party is now Obama's party. Now... On to Washington!
I heard an interview on NPR today where some talking head (well, actually, it was radio so I didn't see his head either) said that Obama's campaign staff is full of veteran political operatives from Chicago. Talk about the right people for the job! If you anticipate being in a tough street brawl of a campaign, you want the gang from Chicago on your side!
I am sure the headlines will be reading this weekend, "No Longer A Dream." Over the past two days, like so many other Obama supporters, I have taken my first deep breath in a month or more. I had almost forgotten that we deserved to celebrate a victory well fought and well won - that we had more to do than just apologize to the Clintons. We took the Democratic party by storm, even as the old guard, unions, and others insisted that nobody but Hillary had any right to the nomination. Today, Denver. Tomorrow, the country. Er,maybe I need a better tag line... =)
I was pleased to read that there is excitement all over the world about the nomination of Obama... Because of all he stands for, because of his inspirational oratory, because of his incredible personal story, and not least because of the sheer symbolism of nominating (finally!) a black man for the Presidency of the United States. Though there is a long way still to go to improve America's image abroad, this nomination alone has still done more to restore America's reputation than anything the Republicans could possibly have done!
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