Barack Obama swept the Chesapeake primaries tonight - you can call them the Potomac primaries, too, but I like rhyme a little better than alliteration. But any way you call it, Obama won three for three, by impressive margins, and topped it off with a great speech in Madison, Wisconsin, where there will be a primary next week.
Obama spoke of the "new American majority," consisting not only of all manner of Democrats, but Obamacans - Barackafeller Republicans - or, Republicans who have been moved by Obama's message. Bringing in even a small percentage of people who voted Republican in 2004 will be enough to get Obama into the White House. He seems to be starting to do a very good job of that.
In addition to his inspiring delivery, Obama had some great phrases in his speech tonight. My favorite was "cynicism is a sorry kind of wisdom". Obama's speech writer is clearly in a league Ted Sorenson, JFK's superb speech writer.
And the Republicans?
John "Palpatine" McCain won all three primaries, too. In his acceptance speech, he took Obama to task, without mentioning his name. Hope is a "platitude," McCain said.
Enough said...
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And here is Ted Sorensen himself on JFK and Barack Obama...
5 comments:
The wins weren't a surprise, but the margins were a bit shocking. The wide demographic win was a huge advance for the Obama campaign.
The most memorable point of the evening, in my mind, was the Obama speech followed by the McCain appearance and the drastic contrast in style that was apparent. I knew what to expect from Obama, obviously, but it was shocking to see McCain follow him on television. Appearing in a quiet, private setting with Warner standing behind him I sat back on the couch and laughed quietly.
It looked like the campaign that time forgot. It's an isolated moment, but one that I think is very telling. In the general election, should Obama finish the deal, McCain is going to have a very hard time. He's old. Not that his age is particularly troublesome, but that he looks and sounds even older than his years. His style is crotchety and his platform is a very old GOP standard that won't play to a wide audience when stacked up against Obama.
His speaking style is going to flop on television (to bring a media ecology perspective into things). He's a symbol of all that's cobwebbed and outdated in America. He doesn't evoke (as did Reagan) a kind of proud heritage that can be defended against what's new and fleeting. Obama is tailor made for TV. He's sleek, healthy, youthful, and his rhetoric is crackling with visible energy. His transformative vision is contagious and the crowds reflect the youthful diversity of his appeal.
I smell a landslide. The GOP base isn't with McCain in any kind of committed way. The independents are with Obama. The moderate Republicans will swing to Obama in enough numbers that they will steal from McCain. The youth vote will go 90% to Obama and they appear to be out IN FORCE in this primary season. I can't see how the general will be as close as we've seen the last two elections if Obama stands up against McCain in stark contrast.
I don't know Mike- the Youth Vote has never really rallied. We (the younger generation) often talk big and show small. Never underestimate the power of the GOP campaign machine.
I think hillary is dead in the water, but I don't expect this to be a landslide either. A building trend in our recent elections has been closer and closer margins.
Furthermore, the GOP is great at end run hail mary campaigns. and as for the republican swing to Obama- I think it depends on how moderate.
The people who vote GOP just to help their pocket book? yea he may get those, but I don't think much else. Also- those people vote best interest, I don't think he'll get all of them.
Final point- I'm not a fan of comparing Obama to JFK. Mostly because I think JFK cheated the election worse the G dubbes even did. At least Obama has some integrity.
The remarkable aspect of these primaries is the notion that the youth vote has never really followed through on the general enthusiasm in past elections. This primary season is different. The number of young and 1st time voters to show up at the polls this year has been so remarkable as to draw repeated commentary from the pundits on CNN and MSNBC, not to mention the newspapers.
This election is reminiscent of 1968, not for the direct link between Kennedy and Obama, but rather for the national tide of enthusiasm that something new is in the air worth jumping on. That's mainly a product of the Dems and the idea that either a woman or an African-American will be the nominee. I may be a bit biased, but I think the recent level of enthusiasm transcends the race and gender issue and lies firmly in the effectiveness of Obama's stump speeches and his meteoric rise in the polls.
The general election has become more of a TV-built symbol association with the voting public as generations of people have been raised in front of the screen. That plays as big a factor in the success of a candidate as the policy stances they speak of. The medium is the message.
Bush43 worked on TV better than either Gore or Kerry. Clinton was much better than Bush41. Obama works better on TV than anyone who remains. As TV tends to caricaturize people, wonky policy talk falls short when faced with inspirational rhetoric. That's why Clinton is struggling as Obama is seen by more eyes. Obama is a hot candidate while McCain is very very cool (in a McLuhanesque analysis).
That's all without considering actual policy positions that tend to favor the Dems. Unpopular war. Bad economy. Massive corruption that leans towards the GOP heavily. The GOP has focused on immigration, terror, and tax cuts. I think enough Republicans see their interest in this election as anti-war, a change in economic philosophy, and anti-corruption. They may not agree with Obama on his positions regarding these things, but he is the only candidate that promises substantial transformation in a gestalt sense. Both Clinton and McCain are seen as more establishment and likely to work within the current broken system.
The thing I believe that hurts the dems is that they won the majority on the crutch that they would fix the war and the economy.
They've done neither. I think people are bitter. both sides fail miserably at keeping their promises, its just a question of who is associated with the last bad taste.
Hey Mikes - good to see you two here...
Mikespot: you're right that a Republican President with a Democratic Congress hasn't done much in the past few years. But given the choice of a repetition of that, or a Democratic President with a Democratic Congress, or a Republican President with a Republican Congress (the situation before 2006), I think it's pretty clear which is the most promising...
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