Obama and Momentum
Son,
Momentum is a buzz word in sports and politics. Obama has won a string of State victories since Super Tuesday. He is winning again today. So what does this mean? Not much.
Obama shocked the nation when he won Iowa – took the big momentum into New Hampshire and soundly lost to Hillary Clinton. Hillary took her momentum into South Carolina and Obama won a big victory. So Obama took his momentum from South Carolina into Super Tuesday and fought to a draw.
In normal years momentum means something. This is not a normal year. The voters are turning out in record numbers. New voters, young people, are engaging the political process.
In normal years the voters are old dogs of the political parties looking for favor with the winner. They blow with the prevailing wind. That is what has been wrong with our process. Any solution to any given problem will do – just as long as the hacks get their cut.
The strong turnout of voters, people who have no political aspirations, indicates that prevailing winds are no longer good enough. They are looking for a strong headwind blowing away from George W. Bush and his Republican cronies.
Big States will be voting in a couple of weeks, Texas and Ohio. These are important and will probably decide the Democratic nominee. But momentum from today does not foretell the outcome of tomorrow.
Dad
Comment by jean on 13 February 2008:
Interesting article, Dad.
I will share with you the views and opinions of an outsider, since I’m a canadian resident. I follow the US campaign religiously (–no pun intended!).
This phenomenal Barack Obama is, I think, a politician of a rare breed. He seems to be wholeheartedly sincere and disconcertingly straightforward for a political figure. With him, no etiquette : only -as it seems- the right man at the right place (at the right time, perhaps). I don’t know if he will be elected (candidate or, better yet, president) but there is one thing I am sure of. This election is, indeed, exceptional in every way. After the obnoxious years of Bush, the USA need some fresh air. No Cheney, no Rumsfeld, no Rice, and no more of all the crap the US citizens had to endure under GOP’s deadly years.
Obama has the merit of bringing the Americans to their feet, making this election more interesting, more vital, more “groundbreaking” than any other electoral year since the Kennedy era. This is a special time for all Americans.
Even here, in our caricatural, grotesque, sometimes almost prehistorical northern land of Canada, we can feel the winds of change comin’ straight from the south. Good to feel that, after seven years of curse with the Buch-era GOP. A negative outcome of the “badly handled politics of Bush et Co.” is the deterioration in the relations between my country and yours. It is a shame. Two neighbors with such a long frienship and cooperation, USA and Canada, should be united, not in seemingly endless quarrel with each other as we have seen going worse during the Bush years. I, like most Canadians I am sure, want to be friend with the American people, not ennemy. On that point, I am confident a man such as Obama (more than the Clintons) could help improve relations with others. Barack Obama seems to have that kind of sparkle, and spontaneity, which is so scarce in today’s political figures. John McCain is, of course, a great candidate (and, in his own right, a great man as well). So why would I prefer Obama over the latter? Well, McCain equals many of W Bush’s ideas (I like his take on the environment issues though) and does not represent change as much as Obama. He is not as strong a political leader as he seems firsthand. And, as we can see, McCain now is in trouble in his own party. Not good.
Barack Obama opens a new window on his country’s desire for change. Change not as a vulgar word but as a reality.
Of course the detractors will try to spoil his name and his past with ghostly stories of doom and grave diggers. Some people will want you believe he his a dangerous man because is name (from Kenyan ancestry) sound a bit like Ossama and also because his middle name is Hussein like the (ex-)terrifying Saddham. True, his father was of Muslim faith, but to my knowledge he was a moderate – not some kind of fanatics like we sometimes encounter in Iran.
And in Indonesia, during his young age (with his mother?), where he lived in the span of a few years, no controversy since its been proved that the school he’s been studying in wa by no means Muslim. It was a “normal” public school with various persons from diverse beliefs, including some Muslims. No need to try to invent horror tales about Obama when the basis of things is not so scary after all. This man has an enormous baggage of knowledge about the term World. He seems to have diplomacy in him, a great quality for the Commander in Chief of a big nation like the U.S.. I have the perception that Barack Obama is a humanist, as his “kids from the streets of Chicago” seems to suggest. I should say that if I were living in the Unites States I would vote for him. He inspires a lot and, like a mirror, reflects to a certain degree what the American people are and where they are going. If there is a good opportunity for change in the right direction (–no pun intended!), it is right now with the arrival of Barack Obama. Here is a genuine politician, a man of stature I think.
If only the political things could be an ounce of every bit as interesting here in Canada as they are now in the States! Hmmmm. We poor canadians are stuck with the moron Stephen Harper, a sort of disciple of Bush and a right-wing Evangelical himself, the prime sinister of Canada who only has a minority government (thank God) and carries a cornucopia of bad moves and inconsistent decisions. Here the nexus of the crisis mainly is 1)Afghanistan and 2)The Economy. God be damned if I know when the next election will take place in Canada (chances are this could happen sooner than later because it is a minority government).
I almost forgot : believe or not, there are supporters of mister Obama in our side of the fence. “Canadians for Obama”. Yeah, it’s true!
Jean Couture (Quebec, Canada)
Check out my web page at: http://jcouture.multiply.com/