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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Hillary Clinton turned me off slightly by using Barack Obama's childhood essays against him. I have mixed feelings about Clinton -- while she is a tremendously intelligent person who would clearly make a capable leader, I am uneasy knowing she could resort to such desperate juvenile measures. She also bears so little charisma when she speaks to a crowd. I'm still working out how I feel about Hillary Clinton.
The American idjits have proven once again how shallow their thinking, how narrow their view, how empty of knowledge and true understanding they are. It is so sad to read and hear over and over the ridiculous notion that Barack represents change and Hillary doesn't, when the truth is no change can or will happen without Hillary's experience and connections and relationships with the power players. She understands from the inside out just how American politics operate. She would have absolutely given us Universal Health Care in '94 if the Insurance Goliaths hadn't smashed her flat. She understands how things must go to make any progress, and has established relationships for over 35 years whereby she is utterly respected and allowed to make changes in the status quo. Obama will be eaten for lunch, manipulated, squashed. I'm astonished that people in this country actually think someone can make a pretty speech about change and that that somehow magically gives them the connections and knowledge to effect the change. It's absurd. It's sad, and about as naive as believing George Bush would make a good president because he's the guy you could have a beer with and who loves Jesus. Hillary Clinton knows the world leaders of over a hundred nations, she has effectively worked with many heads of state. We need someone in the White House who can immediately make changes, not someone who likes talking about it but doesn't know the first thing about how to make it happen. The fact that the Republicans could nominate a political imbecile with a friendly gift of gab, indicates just how stupid this country is. If this country can't quickly grow up and get beyond the short sightedness of an adolescent level of awareness, and recognize truly the unquestionable necessity of making Hillary Clinton our next President, then all I can say is Welcome to the Machine. We're toast.
But can he win in November? That's what really matters.
Anybody notice how the stock market is crashing after the obama victory? US economy does not like uncertainty and Obama is a completely unknown commodity.
I agree with Arianna. I can't remember the last time I felt this much hope and inspiration from any political candidate.
On top of that, Obama's victory speech was absolutely electrifying!
Hillary lost because she went negative..
Hillary lost because if she could go around the country for a 1,000 years, she will NEVER give a speech that moves all of us like that--including the cynical Press....a
Good post...Ari
I also am proud of this moment. And it doesn't surprise me in the least. I have spent more than 30 years in marketing, working with some of the biggest brands in the world. I recognize a major consumer trend when I see it. And even a blind man could see the building sentiment of hope and renewal in the US electorate, and which Barack Obama both catalyzed and capitalized on. This is not just Obama's moment. It is America's moment to emerge out of seven years of darkness and fear. Hillary Clinton, fine person that she is, does not represent that renewal. And even John Edwards is honorably fighting the last battle. His heart is in the right place, but he is of another time.
Iowa represents a major moment for America. And, it won't be a fluke...tr
Being inspirational and giving people hope for the future means nothing by itself (in the 1930s, Hitler inspired the Germans and gave them hope). You must have a solid plan that will achieve beneficial results in the real world of real people. I suspect Obama would make a better preacher than a president.
"A vote for him would be like rolling the dice," said the former president.
And the people's ears perked up.
I find myself suddenly eager to coin the term "huckabilly".
Republicans are celebrating the Obama win in Iowa. Obama cannot win in the general election and they know it. Therefore, if Obama wins the Democratic Primary Election, you can bet the Repugnants will be happy campers.
I feel like the day after the November election and my candidate won. I know that is not the case ... yet. I was up most of the night during the Iowa caucus because I could not sleep. Maybe just maybe it is morning in American again and hope is beginning to reign. Obama has an electricity that is contagious. He has convinced the doubter in me, through his message and his charisma to vote for him. The fuse, I believe, has been lit. I realize it is most emphatically not over yet but I think the dye may have been cast and history has already been made. The fact it is a distinct possibility that a person of color could achieve the presidency is, in and of itself, a major historical sea change. We are becoming a better nation and, perhaps, a more inclusive one. Finally I can feel my alienation beginning to wane. Change is the genius of America and that is why so many from all over the world risk their life to get here. A new day is dawning. I want it. I can feel it. I fervently hope we get it.
Natalie Rosen, Framingham, MA
That's great that you're an Obama supporter. I like him too. But why eat our own like this? When you write "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." You employ the dishonest tactics we see so much from the right, deceitfully implying- saying, with a slight grammatical escape clause- that either Hillary or Bill raised the madrasssa and Hussein issue. As you know, that's not true. Why paint Hillary as the devil, when it isn't true? Those who oppose this dishonesty from the right should strive to be above it themselves, presenting competence and integrity as their selling points. Stooping to the level of liars like Sean Hannity just feeds the disillusionment of those who say Democrats and Republicans are all alike.
Sister Ariana, using your logic, what shall I make of the Republican results?
The onset of a new Dark Age of intolerance?
Hmm maybe we should look a bit closer ....
116,000 people voted in the Iowa Republican Caucuses
220,000 in the Democratic
That's for all the candidates. You can do the math for your favorite candidate's number of votes.
Some hear the voice of the people thundering in judgment. Perhaps, we can just usher in the new age without all the fuss of additional voting.
Others like me hear the punditocracy thundering about very little
Iowa was just an “election” in a small state – and a flawed one at that http://www
There are about 2 million registered voters in Iowa.
That means that these amazing miraculous “mandates” represent just under 17% of the registered voters – (that's in Iowa not the USA).. You can also do the math here to figure out your favorite candidate's share of all registered voters. Impressive tallies. Landslide Lyndon step aside!
So perhaps the soberly rational answer is that
It is not the first day of the liberal equivalent of the Political Rapture.
Nor the dawn of the a new Dark Age.
Unless of course we believe what our punditocracy tells us to believe and act accordingly.
My precinct in Cedar Rapids was overflowing with Dems, Independents and ex-Republicans just brimming with positivity and goodwill. Hugging our friends and neighbors from an "opposing" camp. Welcoming, with empathy, those whose respected candidates didn't meet viability. Each group smiling and and clapping for the others as the final tallies were announce. It's only on the blogosphere that Dems manage to bash each other so hatefully. Out here in the real world we're all proud of such a worthy field of Democrats and are overflowing at the prospect of the once and future America.
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