Obama Wins Iowa: Why Everyone Has a Reason to Celebrate
Even if your candidate didn't win tonight, you have reason to celebrate. We all do.
Barack Obama's stirring victory in Iowa -- down home, folksy, farm-fed, Midwestern, and 92 percent white Iowa -- says a lot about America, and also about the current mindset of the American voter.
Because tonight voters decided that they didn't want to look back. They wanted to look into the future -- as if a country exhausted by the last seven years wanted to recapture its youth.
Bush's re-election in 2004 was a monument to the power of fear and fear-mongering. Be Very Afraid was Bush/Cheney's Plans A through Z. The only card in the Rove-dealt deck. And it worked. America, its vision distorted by the mushroom clouds conjured by Bush and Cheney, made a collective sprint to the bomb shelters in our minds, our lizard brains responding to fear rather than hope.
And the Clintons -- their Hillary-as-incumbent-strategy sputtering -- followed the Bush blueprint in Iowa and played the fear card again and again and again.
Be afraid of Obama, they warned us. Be afraid of something new, something different. He might meet with our enemies. His middle name is Hussein. He went to a madrassa school. A vote for him would be like rolling the dice, the former president said on Charlie Rose.
And the people of Iowa heard him, and chose to roll the dice.
Obama's win might not have legs. Hope could give way to fear once again. But, for tonight at least, it holds a mirror up to the face of America, and we can look at ourselves with pride. This is the kind of country America was meant to be, even if you are for Clinton or Edwards -- or even Huckabee or Giuliani.
It's the kind of country we've always imagined ourselves being -- even if in the last seven years we fell horribly short: a young country, an optimistic country, a forward-looking country, a country not afraid to take risks or to dream big.
Bill Clinton has privately told friends that if Hillary didn't win, it would be because of the two weeks that followed her shaky performance in the Philadelphia debate.
But it wasn't those two weeks. Indeed, if we were to pinpoint one decisive moment, it would be Bill Clinton on Charlie Rose, arrogant and entitled, dismissive and fear-mongering. And then Bill Clinton giving us a refresher course in '90s-style truth-twisting and obfuscation -- making stuff up about always having been against the war, and about Hillary having always been for every good decision during his presidency and against every bad one, from Ireland to Sarajevo to Rwanda.
So voters in Iowa remembered the past and decided that they didn't want to go back. They wanted to move ahead. Even if that meant rolling the dice.
Again, this moment may not last. But, for tonight, I am going to savor it -- and cross my fingers that it may stand as the day that fear as a winning political tactic died. Killed by an "unlikely" candidate -- as Obama called himself again and again -- who seized the moment, and reminded America of its youth and the optimism it longs to recapture.
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
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Obama's win was proof of a backlash within the Democratic party against the corporate elitist hacks who have had way too much power lately.
Though a close look at Obama would suggest that he is mainly a business as usual DLC loyalist, the defeat of Hillary is still good news for all.
But the Huckabee win is a sad statement on Iowa voters.
While Democratic party strategists may be justifiably pleased (as he could be easy to defeat) it still sucks.
The very idea that a Christian extremist lunatic (who makes Bush look almost sane) would be the first choice of Iowa shows how stupid a very large segment of our nation really is.
Our nation is more polarized than ever.
Fortunately the numbers are all moving left. If Democrats are smart, they will move left too.
End the war!
Impeach the dirty war criminals!
Do it all BEFORE the election and a huge victory is assured for the Democrats.
If the Dems continue to enable Bush, talk peace and vote war.......the election will be a dog's breakfast, too close to call.
As a hard working professional woman, I can not think of anything to celebrate.
America, Americans, don’t forget. We really don’t.
We may loose hope for change and feel powerless, but that is far from forgetting. There is full remembrance when there is forgiveness and working forward. But, forgetting, no, that does not happen. I am not talking about race issues in general but really about that promise to become a better nation for the good of all its citizens. The denials of the vote, the set backs and the losses of rights are not brushed off the pages of history, as much as the temporary victors would publish and proclaim.
For so many of us in the nation, but especially in Memphis in that terrible April of 1969, this song called us to hope, and reminded us of our faith in change.
Otis Redding – A Change Is Going to Come.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kXW0VtQc0I
I'm sorry, Arianna, but I'm not cheering. I would love to help elect the first candidate who reflects our nation's diversity to the presidency. Call me old-fashioned if you like, but I'll be hanged if I want to vote for someone whose most prominent claim to worthiness for that office hinges only on the word "Change"!
ANY of the Democratic candidates would be a most welcome change from the current incumbent, but I want more. Clearly, Obama is electable. He succeeded in securing office in Illinois and to the United States Senate, after all... But what has he accomplished once in office? What PRECISE changes would he propose? What new policies does he have in mind? What innovations would he try to bring about? Would he be open to initiating reforms to our system of government and to an outmoded, 200-year-old presidential election system that is the main reason why it is so difficult to elect good candidates to that august office?
I don't know, and neither does anyone else! And believe me, I've tried to find out! The few positions he has taken are mirror images of Hillary's. His voting record is obscure. In Illinois, it seems to consist largely of a single word: "Present." His Senate record isn't much of an improvement--when he's been around to vote.
To date, my impression of Obama is that he is, indeed, electable. Once elected, he is definitely inclined to use his office as a stepping-stone to a loftier position--IMMEDIATELY!! So immediately, in fact, that his presence is barely noticeable. I am left wondering whether, if elected president, he'll stick around long enough to accomplish anything, or whether he's already working on developing some other, yet higher office to which he can aspire, and what that might be.
Until I know SPECIFICALLY what he's running for, he won't be getting my vote...
We are on the edge of the great "falling apart" of the United States of America. Obama appears, (although having a lot of Republican cross over votes is not a good sign since, republicans vote with a need to win and don't care about moral)s, to have the upper had against the clintons who, are solid behind the status quo.
What worries me about people’s support of Barack Obama is that most people do not support him for what he stands for, but for what he does not stand for.
In other words, since nobody has a good understanding of Mr. Obama’s political viewpoints they support him because he is “fresh”. However, not having experience is not necessarily a good thing – at least with “experienced” candidates people know what to expect and what to criticize.
I am not necessarily greatly in love with Hillary either, but I think she is very competent and has the credentials to be a very good president.
TO: Ex-gov Mike Huckabee and Senator Barack Obama Win in Iowa Continued from yesterday's post Jan 4, 2008.
In yesterday's post I mentioned President Thomas Jefferson and quoted some of his sayings as "I believe the will of the majority should prevail, but equally insistent that Minority Rights be protected." Furthermore, that President Jefferson's wife was left slaves by her father when he died and this is why President Thomas Jefferson dealt with slaves of his wife, Patty. From American Heritage Book of Presidents. America's History Magazine.
I mentioned President Jefferson I believe eventually came to his own that slavery is so unjust and wrong. Following is an eloquent and superlatively beautiful account that shows the BIBLE DOES NOT APPROVE OF SLAVERY!!:
St. Paul's letter deals with an accepted institution of antiquity, human slavery. But Paul breathes into this letter the spirit of Christ and of equality within the Christian community. He does not attack slavery directly,for Christians in First Century couldn't then and they expected Christ to come soon thereby preventing social reforms. Yet Paul, by presenting Onesimus as "brother" beloved....to me, but even more so to you voiced an indea revolutionary in that day and destined to break down worldly barriers of division"in the Lord." Book of Philemon. Catholic Priest's rendition. Eva Hart Catholic Christian Army 62-70 670 Eddy St. Sfc 94109
For the first time in my life, I feel like an American--not an African American or a minority American, but an American. And it feels damn good!
Arianna, thanks for the positive message. This is a little different, but I wish to share an additional positive message with this tune,
Take it easy my friend
Grab the chance while you can
It's time for us to move on
Let the world sing you a song
Take it easy my friend
Wipe the tears from your eyes
There's a magic in the air tonight
In the lavender shy
You've gotta do what you wanna do
Say what you wanna say
Do what you wanna do
Don't be afraid
As long as everybody's happy
And everybody's feeling okay
You've gotta do what you wanna do
say what you wanna say now
Make it easy my friend
'cause the song will come down
Just be true to yourself
Everything will be alright
Take it easy my friend
Grab the chance while you can
It's time for us to move on
Let the world sing you a song
Take it easy my friend
Wipe the tears from your eyes
There's a magic in the air tonight
In the lavender shy
You've gotta do what you wanna do
Say what you wanna say
Do what you wanna do
Don't be afraid
As long as everybody's happy
And everybody's feeling okay
You've gotta do what you wanna do
say what you wanna say now
http://ntaprisa.imeem.com/music/qS4X3p_J/mocca_do_what_you_wanna_do/
The performers are Mocca, from Bandung Indonesia, a place a few miles down the road from Obama's former home in Jakarta. They haven't been to America, but I understand that would be a dream come true for them. Mocca says their number one influence is Frank Sinatra.
All of the candidates on both sides of the aisle have flaws. I can support Obama or Edwards and come away feeling satisfied that the United States will again be put on track. Neither one is my first choice...but at least they are choices I can make without holding my nose. Hillary? Sorry dear. You lost me when you accepted money from mr fox news himself. I hope you never see the inside of the White House again. It doesn't belong to you anymore than it does to w.
The sad truth is the men most qualified to do the job are now out of the race or on their way out.
Don't play into the reps slimey hands and throw mud at the Obama or Edwards. They're not perfect, but they're good people. We need someone who qualifies as a decent human being. We haven't had one of those in 7 years.
Oh, and one more thing. Would San Francisco please vote Nancy Pelosi out of office? She's worthless.
Obama did not have a "stirring victory". Prior to the second choice additions Obama had 30%, Clinton 28% and Edwards 24%, according to the entrance polls. Obama got 8% from Richardson and others, to end with 38%. Edwards got 6% and Clinton got 1% of all second choice.
As for the turn out only 11% of the population of Iowa turned out. Obama got 3% of the Iowa population to vote for him (1st &2nd choice combined) and Edwards and Clinton got 2% each. Of the increase in the turn out from the previous caucaus(2004) Obama got 30%, Clinton got 29% and the rest were mostly Edwards. I was really a bigger night for Edwards on turn out not Obama.
The indeed historic symbolism of Obama's candidacy aside ...
When are the pundits going to start confronting the issue of how the primaries being front-loaded favors the previously well-known contender -- the one who was considered the presumptive nominee when the process started -- over ANY possible challenger or upstart, even one that might be at least somewhat well-known before the campaign began?
Obama could very well demonstrate his superior strength AS A CANDIDATE, w/ voters who are familiar w/ the candidates & have heard a lot (both + and -) about them -- winning not only Iowa but New Hampshire & S Carolina as well. This isn't a far-fetched prediction, & indeed, Obama may be at least an even bet to do just that. (Of course, the results in MI, FL, and NV are another matter).
But then comes Tsunami Tuesday ("TT" for short). Here, the inertia of the campaign is given full swing, and even the momentum built up by Obama with three major victories in the heavily campaigned-in states would leave him at a disadvantage in what amounts to essentially a national primary.
Curiously, the circumstances in MI and FL, the two LARGEST states to vote before TT, is such as specifically to PRECLUDE major campaigning on the part of any candidate that doesn't want to outrage the Democratic Party establishment; hence they are more like the TT states than the 'big three' of January. ALL OF THESE FACTORS SEEM TO FAVOR THE CANDIDACY OF HRC, ALMOST INSURMOUNTABLY, AND ALL ARE PREDICTABLE RESULTS OF THE WAY THAT THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY SET UP THE ELECTIONS.
It's time for the grass-roots and net-roots Democrats to start SERIOUSLY grappling with this issue. If this setup insures an HRC nomination, as it seems clearly to have been intended to do, AND THEN SHE LOSES, I think that progressives will REALLY have to think seriously about completely overhauling the Democratic Party. And no more dancing to the tune of the DLC and their 'why doesn't the Democratic Party dump its pro-choice platform?'(Al From) after the 2004 elections.
What is troubling to me about Obama, is that most of the efforts he has made as a public figure has been to elevate the blacks position in this country. As a President and senator, he should be representing all of us.
Now that is admirable and understandable that he helps his own race, but would he as President represent all the citizens? I do not feel comfortable that he would. I might be wrong but all the major things he has done is for black advancement. I noticed he and Oprah use Martin Luther King and the preacher speech to say blacks have finally come a long way. I admire what MLK did for blacks, but many whites also helped the black advance to where they are today. Would the blacks have been so helpful if the roles were reversed? I doubt it.
The preacher speech / drone / rhetoric simply turns me off. Everyone keeps exclaiming about his oratory. I want simple truth talk like Hillary's. Women have also come a long way but I know Hillary will represent ALL citizens, not just women or blacks or any special group.
Note on political history: Iowa has seldom given an eventual nominee the victory, except when Reagan and Clinton were running unopposed. And if they won in Iowa, they almost never win the general. Sorry, but that's true, and you can look it up.
It's the fault of that phony, elitist faux-populist caucus system that ensures, even in a year where people are really stirred up, that only 20% of the voters can possibly show up, then artificially compresses the winners into the "viable" category. Iowa? Please change your stupid primary system so that more of your voters can vote, and we know the absolute number of people who voted for each candidate.
Exelon has reason to celebrate. The nuclear power plant operator will have no problem getting their
new nuclear plant in Clinton, Illinois approved if Barrack is elected.
Obama also wants to create a "Nuclear Fuel Reserve" similar to the national oil reserve, only it would be a storage facility full of plutonium.
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