Saturday, February 09, 2008

Why we're going to have a President Obama

If I were a political strategist for John McCain, I'd be extremely worried right now. Running a campaign against Hillary Clinton is a best case scenario for McCain because Hillary Clinton's sullied past is sure to polarize a lot of conservatives to vote against her, even if they don't really care about voting for McCain. Plus, Clinton and McCain are evenly matched in experience, so swing voters will probably vote for the one most aligned with their political beliefs.

But a campaign against Barack Obama? It's a nightmare—the slogans will be things like old vs. new, traditional vs. fresh approach, anti-same-sex marriage vs. pro-same-sex marriage and, the clincher... pro-war vs. anti-war. Since public sentiment has swung away from the war in Iraq, Obama is sure to lead that bandwagon all the way into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The youth vote is not to be dismissed, either: Obama represents a newer generation of politicians not mired in the tired dialectic of the 60s and 70s, but looking forward to a new future... younger voters want a candidate who inspires them to use politics to make a significant change in their lives. What they want, plainly put, is new blood and new ideas.

I haven't even mentioned the fact that Obama swept three more states today with a whopping 2:1 delegate ratio. And the next three states—the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia—are also very favorable Obama states, so his momentum is now hurling forward like a freight train... one day not long from now, perhaps we'll all wonder if Hillary Clinton ever seriously stood a chance against Obama at all.

Al Gore didn't run for President this time because his political advisors told him Hillary Clinton's campaign was unbeatable. I wonder what Gore's advisors are thinking now...

(In proofing this post, it occurs to me I never mentioned the black vote... which, of course, would be disingenuous to say that had nothing to do with Obama's campaign. Seriously, though—it didn't even occur to me!)

1 comment:

Elver said...

We're going to have President Obama if the Clinton's don't call in favors with the superdelegates.