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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Over and over again in recent years we hear the polls that show Bush's support down to 20%, with Congress lower. Yet the people in Congress, the leaders in both parties, seem to think that these low Congressional rankings have nothing to do with them.
Think again.
The people of this country have realized that most Senators and Representatives are crooks and liars. They spend all of their time soliciting and accepting bribes from major corporations. They go out into the public and smile and wave and preach about family values, then they go back home and bugger the little children. They are liars, hypocrites, act only to enrich themselves, and do nothing except hurt this country and the people in it.
The "establishment" candidates were rejected in Iowa. Hillary's little tee-hees about being female, and Romney's shy little grin about being a "minority" Mormon fooled no one. They are just two more rich connected pols out to buy the election.
Vote Edwards. Or Obama. Anyone but Hillary. She went into the Senate and grabbed hold of the title of "leader" of the Democrats. Then she led them in a sit-down strike: sit down, do nothing. And that's where they've stayed for the past 7 years.
We're sick of it. If we could, I'd vote to throw every sitting Congressperson out of office and start over again. It could not possibly be worse than the lazy corrupt incompetents we've got now.
News flash from someone who grew up in Iowa City, the university stronghold of Obama's Iowa support, where many of the young female voters in the audience when I watched him speak there simply said "He's so hot".
Iowa was a caucus, not a primary vote. Totally different thing. Campaigns can bus supporters to the polls, even pay them off with food and drinks. Once in the caucuses, peer pressure and inducements are rampant. And Arianna's piece utterly, totally ignored the Republican side, where Iowa's republican caucus goers were at least 40% evangelicals.
Very few conclusions can be drawn from the Iowa caucus, particularly since the atypical University of Iowa contingent figures so heavily.
Personally though, I'm excited that Edwards' aggressive anti-corporate stance played so well. That's the real news out of Iowa, that his rhetoric has forced the Democratic front runners further to the left. (While the GOP frontrunners slide into Jayseuss la-la land).
Stay tuned.
What exactly is Mr. Obama going to change? Is he going to run through the Whitehouse and cast out the deamons? Is he going to end the war in Irag with his magic wand? Bring peace to the middle East and regain world confidence with his boyish charms? Is it because he is younger that we assume his ideas are fresher? Is this the Tiger Woods of Washington?
When voting in the Senate, he is not so different than his opponents. His actions, therefore, are not reflecting his words.
I am not proud that America has finally put race to the side in favor of a "good" vote. I don't care about the racial difference. And just what race do chameleons belongs to anyway.
Whoever wins this damn election will represent the 300 plus million American citzens and residents (legal or otherwise). I wish him good luck if he makes it to the final race.
Republicans "like" Obama because they want to run against him.
For them, what could be better than running against,
"an unqualified, untested black Muslim named Hussein?"
BTW, what changes is Obama going to make, anyone know?
Okay, so one of you Obamites wanna tell us his electoral strategy? not that it's over or anything, but just exactly which swing states can he win? I don't care much about poll numbers to this point, but if it's Obama against whatever Republican talking point hood ornament they select, how does he win any state that isn't a dem given?
Arriana, did you know that Iowa is one of two states that have never elected a woman as a governor or member of Congress. The other state is Mississippi (an inference that I would find offensive if I were from
Mississippi)
Obama should turn bill Clinton's roll of the dice comment on it's head.
Hillary rolled and crapped out...so much for Lady Luck
Arianna, please wake up and smell the republicans. Last night was a sham. I am an african american woman who has seen the light from the moment obama announced he was running. He is effectively being used by the republican machine to hand them back the white house on a silver platter. I knew when the pundits said that the independent vote in Iowa would increase by 40% as opposed to 15% in 2004 for the democratic caucases that we were in trouble. I knew when I watched the Sunday morning jerks like brit hume and bill crystal salivate over the prospects of an obama victory that we were in trouble. Republicans crossed over and voted for him to shut Hillary down in Iowa and they will do the same in New Hampshire. Niave African Americans in South Carolina will be convinced that he really can win with two under his belt and vote for him in record numbers to their own peril. That in my opinion is the strategy and it's so sad that we are falling for it. Someone in my community who considers themselves a leader had better speak up fast, and pull the covers off of this vicious plot. Otherwise the repubs will cakewalk right back into the white house and I just don't know if the country could withstand that.
The bottom line is that Obama's primary message is unity. It cuts across geographic, political, economic and racial lines. If he becomes our President, we will have near instant credibility with the rest of the world again, especially the third world who will look at America and say, "Wow, the USA is lead by someone who looks like us!"
It's a time for great joy. Let's hope he can persevere through the entire campaign and make it to Pennsylvania Avenue!
I do find it strangely odd that the discourse everywhere still remains about Hillary and Obama with nary a mention of the candidate who did actually beat Hillary for the second spot. Do corporate interests really fear him that much??
Last night proves that Obama could win the Democrat vote in "down home, folksy, farm-fed, Midwestern, and 92 percent white Iowa." It doesn't say anything about Obama's ability to win the GOP/independent vote.
Huckabee has been brilliantly played in his "pastoral" role by the Rovian elements of the GOP Establishment. He thinks that the next step is the White House, but the truth is that he has been manipulated into shepherding his "flock" of Evangelical Christians who, before this, were thinking about just staying home and praying for deliverance.
Anyone who thinks that the GOP is ultimately going to back a religious right wing pastor, all the way to November, is deluding themselves. Huckabee was "allowed" this "victory" in order to corral the religious right and hold them until further notice in the "sheepfold". These Evangelicals will stay there, bleeting and praying, until the REAL GOP decides who they want to run against the Democratic nominee. The only "deliverance" that Pastor Huckabee will see will be when he follows instructions and directs his flock to vote for whoever the GOP establishment decides is the best choice to defeat the Dem candidate.
Meanwhile, the path is being prepared for Romney, or Thompson, or, if absolutlely necessary McCain. However, the loose cannon in this whole thing is Ron Paul, and HE is someone who is NOT being controlled by anyone. I do not know if Ron Paul will prevail, but I do know this...the
Ariana,
Buried on the Des Moines Register website (URL at the bottom) are the actual vote totals:
93,952 Obama
74,377 Edwards
73,666 Clinton
38,605 Huckabee (93% of precincts)
28,367 Romney (93% of precincts)
14,749 McCain (93% of precincts)
I highlight these five, because 4 of those people got about 97% of the air time on MSNBC, CNN, and NPR last night.
The guy who got the 2nd most Iowa votes, was dismissed yet again by the mainstream media. But I don't listen to my favorite political show "Left, Right and Center" to hear only mainstream media. I particularly expect to hear reality (not MSM) from you.
So I was disappointed your column here on the Iowa results was as silent on the 2nd most popular presidential candidate for Iowans as the rest of the mainstream media.
I hope you can correct this (I'll be listening to your show in 5 hours).
In the meantime, here's another virtually ignored nuggest by the CW media predicting NH votes:
Looking at the official entrance poll stats vs. the Des Moines Register votes, the original support for Biden, Richardson, Kucinich, Dodd went to
57% Edwards
21% Clinton
20% Obama
when the 15% threshold wasn't met. Edwards 2nd choice votes came despite the announcements and rumors of 3 of those campaigns asking voters to switch to Obama if they weren't viable. (It is confirmed from one Richardson precinct captain that this was indeed their strategy).
So when you look at the 21.8% of the NH vote (according to http://www
If Edwards got 57% of that, he'd be at 30% in NH right now. But I guess the CW MSM pundits will explain away a 30% showing too.
Thank you for listening,
Jeff Winchell
Democrats Abroad
http://dat
http://dat
The win might not have legs? It's going to be a centipede. You need only look in his eyes. He means it. He's a fresh-water well spring. America is dying for lack of sunshine, fresh air and education for ideas. He said, "We'll tell people what they need to know, not what we decide they should hear." If he keeps meaning it, maybe American can stem the slide to the end of the line.
Did anyone else find it telling that the crowd at the Obama speech last night broke out into impromptu chants of "USA! USA!" alongside the "O-Ba-Ma!" chants?
Big difference from any of the other candidate's supporters and rallies, Republican OR Democrat.
And gives me a reason to hope!
Actually it was a victory for Democrats. Each candidates speech last night was outstanding hopeful and inspiring for the coming year.
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