First I want to say that I don't believe Obama is the "messiah" and that there are other people in congress that are closer to me politically. I started out really hoping Feingold would run and when I found out he wasn't I wasn't immediate sure who I was supporting, but eventually decided that Obama was the best choice of candidates who announced. He'd opposed the war from the beginning and didn't accept contributions from lobbyists and pacs. He had the audacity to propose meeting with the leaders of unfriendly countries. And yes he had incredible oratorical skills. I eventually became an ardent supporter and worked many hours for his campaign.
Now Senator Obama has run against the biggest political machine ever, the definition of "the establishment". For the majority of the campaign he was behind by 20-30%. He faced a media that constantly reinforced his opponent's inevitablity. He took a lot of grief from some people for his messages of bipartisanship and his willingness to go against traditional democratic stances on certian issues. The republican party acted as if his opponent was already the nominee. The superdelegates largely lined up behind his opponent. Many people counted him out including some of his own supporters. But he never gave up. He kept hammering in his message of change. Despite being counted out by many he managed to inspire an incredible amount of grass-roots support, much of it from people who had never before been involved in politics. He appealed to independents and young people especially, but managed to inspire people from all walks of life. Many of these people had heard him speak or read his book and liked what he had to say. Although he's refused to accept donations from lobbyists and pacs, he's raised an unprecedented amount of money from individual donations of less than $100. And eventually he was able to overcome the seemingly insurmountable lead his opponent had in order to emerge as the front-runner. It all began with a state that had a popluation over 95% white.
But then his opponents and the media turned up the heat on him. First he wasn't black enough, then he was too black. Everything he did or said was put under a microscope, including his wife's words, a supposed handshake snub, an essay he wrote in kindergarten and of course things he said that could have been worded better. Instead of being praised for his strengths, he was hammered for his weaknesses. But despite all that he refused to play the game. He refused to point to his opponent's weaknesses with blacks the way she pointed to his weakness with "working-class whites". He refused to opportunistically jump on her gaffes the way she jumped on his. And he held strong in the face of adversity. He endured crippling losses in states where more than a quarter of the voters who voted against him admitted race was a factor in their decisions. He withstood his opponent's surges in new hampshire and texas and ohio. He managed to overcome his opponent's help from bad-intentioned conservatives who encouraged fellow republicans to vote for his opponent. He has showed a remarkable ability not to crack under pressure. And most importantly he maintained his strong base of support from a diverse group of people. He has continued to win support from old people whom he reminded of JFK and young people, far too young to vote, blacks, whites, rich people, poor people, self-described liberals, feminists, anti-war activists, independents, and former republicans. He continued to draw enormous crowds when he spoke. Eventually he surpassed his opponent in superdelegates and won the majority of pledged delegates.
And then he continued to surprise people. After he was the presumed nominee he put to rest the perception that he was not a fighter by taking on McCain for wanting to continue failed policies and for his hypocrisy about lobbyist contributions. He showed that he will be audacious as the nominee and that after 17 months of campaigning he has the vigor to keep on going all the way through november. He's showed that a black man can win states with populations that are almost entirely white. He's showed that you don't have to have the most centrist views to have the most general election appeal. Three cheers for the democratic nominee!