5-12-08 What About Obama

Obama would be impossible in the world that was. He is right for the one we are shifting into. That is why he and not Clinton or McCain will be the next President.

Obama will be President because it is time for a new generation and he is the chosen one. It is that simple. Unfortunately for the contenders, their time is past, McCain as the tail end of the greatest generation and Clinton as a baby-boomer.

Before we swear Obama into that high office, though, we ought to ask two pertinent questions: can he win the presidency and, if he can, is he likely to be the kind of President that we want. In effect, the youth of America gave him the edge but what are our prospects with this candidate when you discount the charisma?

Actually it looks pretty good. In the long, tedious, primary campaign, Obama did everything right. He started from nowhere, laid out a masterful plan, stuck with it and won.

In the course of that campaign, Obama took on the “inevitable candidate” of the most vaunted political machine in existence, man-handled it, stole much of its base and consolidated power in his hands alone. He brought the toughest campaigner in the race to tears and drove her competent, charismatic husband to angry, mistake-ridden distraction. It was done with such quiet competence that it is almost scary.

Obama had to ignore the Democratic Party; it was in the firm grip of Clintons. He used the improbability of his candidacy and his appeal to our youth to go under the media radar to set up a parallel grass-roots organization. He did this in all 50 states, however small or Republican, whether primary or caucus, whether early or late in the calendar.

Obama correctly judged the mood of the country. He chose change as his theme and reached out to the disengaged. That out-reach brought amazing numbers of new, young voters into his camp and the Democratic Party. And it brought in lots and lots of money.

That gave him what he needed most: people on the ground, money in the bank and, in the end, delegates to the convention. In the process, he also ignored the powerful and supposedly indispensable, moneyed mandarins who owned the Democratic Party. He went past the lobbyists and special interests directly to the people via the new technology

Obama still has to face the Republicans but Senator McCain is old news. He leads a demoralized Republican Party that is broke, figuratively and financially. The Rove machine will be nasty about race but it is time to face that and put it decisively behind us. And McCain just might be the kind of honorable man who will abandon Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” that has dishonored but won for the Republicans.

What kind of President is Obama likely to be? Is he the kind of person we want to lead us into this new century with its fragile and stumbling economy, dangerous and growing terrorism and chaotic global politics.

Let’s face it; America elects its leadership on the basis of character and personality and not, as Senator Clinton learned, on the basis of experience or, as Senator Edwards learned, issues or party platforms.

America wants someone steady, confident and responsive, who knows the people and their problems and will make us proud. A big plus is a quick wit with honest self-deprecating humor, which is what got McCain his nomination.

The campaign met the criteria with: “No shock, Barak; Obama, no drama,” and that steadiness played out to be a winning formula.

When things went wrong, Obama kept his cool. He met every test without ever getting excited, angry or off message. And when race came up, as it had to, Obama did not take the traditional paths of angry outrage nor did he duck and run away from it.

Obama went on prime time and spoke more directly than any American politician ever has about “The American Dilemma” that has divided us and rebuked our democracy. He spoke to both sides and bridged the gulf. The Jeremiah Wright affair was effectively the same problem and he answered, first gently and then, when he had to, sharply.

America is now in the midst of great political and social change, not because of 9/11 or even the George Bush Presidency. Rather, we are finally putting the Baby-boomers and Viet Nam, the greatest generation and the Cold War away behind us and into the history books. Moving on is now more important than al-Qaeda, Iraq, China and faltering financial markets.

Barack Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee and he is very probably going to be the next President.

Lots of things could go wrong but at this point we are looking to a bright but challenging future with this new President.