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Jewish World Review
January 8, 2008
1 Shevat 5768
President Obama? At the very least, he's certainly no race huckster — and that's why they haven't embraced him
By
Michael Goodwin
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
"Let's go change the world" is the battle cry of Barack Obama's inspiring stump speech, and his army of supporters is on the march. Like their leader, they are young and idealistic, determined to shape a new political order. Hear him talk, hear them roar and you quickly get the point. Theirs is not a political campaign. It's a movement, a revolution, a crusade even.
His Iowa troops turned out in record numbers, 100,000 more than in 2004, shattering the predictions that only veteran caucusgoers would show up to support Hillary Clinton or John Edwards. Obama even beat Clinton among women and among those who view health care as the top issue, her supposed political safety net.
Unless Obama screws up before Tuesday, the Iowa bounce should carry him to victory in New Hampshire. The hardest part in the race for the nomination would be over. His dream, their dream, is in sight.
And so, just as clearly, are the questions. Is America ready for that much change? Is America ready to elect a black President? Yes — and maybe.
Start with the dramatic change Obama vows, the coin of the realm now in both parties. The Bush years have few friends, yet Clinton cautiously positioned herself as a bridge between them and the future. But voters don't seem to want halfway measures, and suddenly the entire rationale for her candidacy is on life-support.
Her experience has become a liability in the current climate, which Obama helped to create with his powerful orations and clever arguments. The "Change We Can Believe In" signs at his events exploit the doubts about her — the trust issue — while also attacking her claim that she is a change agent. He argues that her experience has proven only that she has bad judgment. He compares her with George Bush. Ouch.
He has used the same jujitsu on her pitch to return to the days of the Clinton presidency, reminding voters she was central to the rancid partisanship that continues to divide us. Who wants that again, he asks?
Even Edwards, an Obama threat because he splits the anti-Clinton vote, could ultimately help him. Iowa was probably Edwards' high-water mark, and when he gets out of the race, Obama will get most of his support.
Those are the political logistics, but there is still the question of whether Obama's youth — he's 46, Clinton is 60 — and his inexperience will get in the way. They won't, provided he doesn't get wacky or careless under the pressure of being the front-runner.
So far, his charisma and the enthusiasm of his supporters have given him license to be vague. He has used the freedom to push the envelope, saying, for example, he would talk without conditions to Iran and North Korea. It looked like a gaffe at first, and any other candidate would be pilloried. He got away with it because it proved he would be different. He has to be careful, though, that being different doesn't suggest he's dangerous.
Which leaves the racial question. Is America ready to demolish that taboo?
It's a huge hurdle, higher than the one Clinton presents in trying to become the first female President. But I believe that if Obama is the nominee and if the country wants big change in November as much as it does now, Obama can shatter that barrier, too.
Part of the reason is that race is not central to his identity or campaign. That he is of mixed race and a product of top schools — Columbia and Harvard — is reassuring to many whites, probably more so than to blacks, who have been slow to warm to his candidacy.
Obama has used that to his advantage, too. Unlike Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, race men to their cores who have not embraced him, Obama has run a campaign based on unity, not interest-group grievance. He talks of national hope and healing ideological divides, which include race, but are not limited to it. He seamlessly evokes the great moments of American history, from Valley Forge to Selma, without drawing distinctions among us. In his words, the civil rights triumphs belong to all of us.
Sure, it's a bit sappy and might even be a mirage. But for now, Obama is offering the kind of distinctly American Dream that only rarely appears in politics. In his hands, it might just have the power to change the world.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and the media consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Michael Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Daily News. Comment by clicking here.
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