PrintJanuary 4, 2008
The Big Mo
I am one of those Iowa caucus skeptics, regarding it as a media-driven show. But even I can see that the momentum generated last night for Obama extends beyond mere media event dimensions.
Even worse, the obvious enthusiasm on the Democrat side contrasts with the bitter divisions among the GOP field and base.
I have warned against the dangers of counting out Hillary, so I don't think that the race is over. But her inevitability is now shattered into small pieces. The size of Obama's turnout and the level of enthusiasm for him among younger voters both spell huge trouble for not just Hillary, but the Republican Party. Adding a raft of new first time young voters to the Democratic totals in the election, something it appears Obama may be capable of accomplishing, could lead to a blowout election triumph for the party of the left.
Obama is leading a crusade, one whose nebulous but important goals include a vital racial healing subtext, is almost poisonous to oppose. David Brooks this morning wrote:
There is indeed a degree of don't rain-on-the-parade animus among a large majority of the country which wants to embrace and sing kumbaya, when it comes to giving every consideration to a nice-looking, well-educated, hard-working, personally responsible family man who happens to be black. When his entire appeal is based on uniting us, attacking him just seems like being mean, and an awful lot of young people who have never voted before think that "mean people suck."Americans are not going to want to see this stopped. When an African-American man is leading a juggernaut to the White House, do you want to be the one to stand up and say No?
This is very scary, because Obama is untested and obviously unprepared to lead America through the perilous geopolitical challenges we face.
Obama's views, life experiences, and detailed plans must be scrutinized very carefully, and Americans must think seriously about the challenges we face. But that is awfully hard to do if the country embraces the romantic and rather vacuous platitudes offered by the first African-American front-runner for a major party nomination.
It isn't always rewarding to be the party of the grown-ups.
It isn't always rewarding to be the party of the grown-ups.
