Three Lessons from Obama's Victory in Iowa

Barack Obama's historic win in Iowa leaves us with three powerful and inspirational lessons about America. These are lessons we can take with us beyond the current election cycle, and on which we can build a better political future.

Senator Obama's campaign in Iowa, outdoing the seasoned grassroots operation of John Edwards by eight points, and Hillary Clinton's mighty political machine by nine, centered not only on a message of change, but one of unity. Ever since Obama's breakout speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, in which he called on us to look past "red states" and "blue states," and see a United States of America, Obama has been seeking to inspire a broader sense of national identity.

In essence, Obama's campaign is a repudiation of the Karl Rove school of politics, which calls for a strong showing by the base at the cost of later reconciliation. Tired of all the shouting and polarization, Americans are looking for a president, rather than a partisan cheerleader. They seem to have found him in Barack Obama.

A second lesson we can take from Obama's victory in Iowa, is one that seasoned political insiders could hardly have predicted: that no matter how naïve it sounds, new, young voters will actually show up on election day, if the right candidate asks them to.

Despite the arcane and utterly inconvenient process that is the Iowa Caucus, participation nearly doubled from what had been a historic turnout in 2004. Obama got 44% of support among Republicans who caucused with the Democrats this time around, and 41% of Independents. As expected, Obama did incredibly well among young voters, getting four times as many caucus goers between the ages of 17 and 29 as his closest rival John Edwards. This was no small feat, given that a whopping 22% of caucus goers fell into this age group. Since we are talking about an African American with the unlikely name of Barack Obama, we may collectively tip our hats to the campaign, and to the people of Iowa, who've chosen to buck all expectations.

This brings us to lesson number three: Minority candidates can get white votes. We got a preview of this in 2006, when Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., an African American, was able to muster 40% of the Caucasian vote in the Tennessee race for the Senate. Pundits had predicted then, as they did before Obama's win in Iowa, that poll numbers showing support for the black candidate could not be reliable, given that whites might say one thing to a pollster, but act on their prejudices come voting time. Like Harold Ford, Jr., Barack Obama proved skeptics wrong in Iowa, a state that is 95% white.

One of the keys to Obama's victory, and Ford's strong showing in 2006, is that both men sought to transcend race, rather than be defined by it. While not shying away from the challenges of color, Obama refused to be a "minority" candidate in the superficial sense of the word. Being a politician of color no longer has to mean being defined by the racism of others, and we can all be proud of this development.

At the end of the day, the three lessons of Obama's win center around a single, underlying premise: that America is better off united. The shouts at the Obama victory rally shifted briefly from "O-ba-ma, O-ba-ma," to a chant we rarely hear at Democratic events: "U-S-A, U-S-A..." America is stronger when it joins hands, not out of fear or blind nationalism, but out of a deep sense of optimism. For this lesson, we can thank the people of Iowa.

Follow Nathan Gonzalez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/engagingiran

Comments

[spinstahbabe]

This Iowa caucusgoer says "Thank you." Guess we're not all the bunch of rubes so many in the blogosphere said we were.

[navalvet]

Unity, alone, is not the goal. This country was united on September 12, 2001, behind our leaders, who proved unworthy of our support. I certainly have more confidence in Senatr Obama's honesty, than our in president's but I think the senator's views and policies are not perfectly congruent with mine. However, I believe that all Democrats will unite around the nominee.

[anywho]

Why is it so surprising that someone like Obama would be viewed so well by so many "whites" in Iowa? Northern "whites" are wining their second civil war. One again we are reminded how out of touch the MSM, the Giovernment and the pundits are. I am for Edwards personnaly, but will comfortably vote for Omama. I would NEVER have voted for Clinton under any circunstances.

[DCMike]

The Obama victory in Iowa would make a great made-for-TV movie. At some point, I hope we start looking at and selling the issues. The Republicans are masters at selling the illusory "feel" message. If the Democrats build their platform out of twigs of "hope" only, we're gonna get destroyed in November. We should be using bricks and mortar while we still have the ability to get out a message. When it's down to us and them... the media will be with them.

[tombollocks]

Then why can't I seem to trust him? I just don't see whatever it is he has to offer. I have seen that his campaign seems to whine a lot about attacks...

[Alessan]

America is better off without Obama, not that America is better off without a man of color, just not Obama. But you white guilty liberals are trying to make life miserable, he is not ready,he needs to spend at least a few more years in the Senate, maybe he could learn something about government. Besides if the republicans nominate McCain, the US is toast, more Bush for another four years.

[curiousasheck]

The swiftboating has even begun yet!

[researcher]

nice words to hear but: the lines have been drawn in the sand.

lets look real close what we have in congress. war mongering imperialist repubs and spineless demos.

oh you say repubs are not imperialists. then read what our national hero mc cain said today about iraq and 10,000 years being there.

you know a country is imperialist when it calls its mercenary army heroes.

spineless demos: anyone that thinks nancy and reid are doing a good job stand up. what 22% poll numbers worst than the sociopath bush jr. man that is spineless.

if he can unite those two parties for the people it will be a miracle. if a terror attacks occurs on his watch maybe americans will unite for awhile.

but then back to politics as usual. this country is as divided now since the civil war.

we are a mean spirited aggressive selfish society after years of greed is good capitalism and individualism.

[swift goat pet for truth]

The lessons restated:

1- Charisma trumps policy.
2- The skills needed to win an election have nothing to do with governance.
3- The majority of American voters don't like thinking.

(and, gee, I learned that from Ronald Ray-gun)

[Paul Loeb - Huffpost Blogger]

I think Obama is a much stronger candidate than Ford, and though I'm backing Edwards as my first choice, I'd be more than fine with him as the nominee. But we do have to remember that the "Harold call me ads," did help take down Ford, so we can't totally discount the potential of losing some votes to racism. But I do think and hope that they'll be more than balanced the the others that Obama draws in, especially among younger voters.

[oldpotsmuggler]

Let me start by saying that I'm perfectly content with seeing Sen. Obama get the promotion. Us middle aged white guys have had a good long run and, particularly recently, have not racked up a lot of bragging rights.

But I see no value "going together" if where we end up is someplace where we should not be at all. Let's take an example. The Obama campaign web site contains a "plank" calling for increasing the size of our military. As I undertsand the numbers, he's calling for even a bigger increase in manpower than Bush is. Now, if he can get liberals to go along with this, it's clear that we would end up united on the issue, because Republicans will jump all over it. The problem as I see it, though, is that we could also start trying to bring the human race together, and this is one proposal that would get voted down planet wide.

The value in that sort of an outcome is something that completely escapes me.

[Dailyfare]

Obama understands that its critical going forward in the 21st century that we talk about we instead of me.

[kirotahoe]

there is danger in being too self congratulatory when the job of electing a president has barely begun. it is the biggest tendency of youth to say ok this job is done and then move on to another. and the main stream media and many others will be only too happy to distract them. IT IS A LONG TIME TIL THE ELECTION. young folks please don't lose your focus and drive.