A little optimism is in order!
Over the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.
Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.
We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. ... Caroline Kennedy in the New York Times
The guests and commentators on C-Span seemed quite stunned as the numbers came in -- by the extent of the win, of course, but also by the demographics of it. A huge (81% apparently) percentage of black voters of both genders voted for Obama. But the white vote for him was significant, too. It was interesting to listen to Republican callers evidence genuine support for Obama and pleasure at his win.
Clinton's defeat would have been a greater pleasure had she come in third to John Edwards' second. Edwards got 18 or 19% of the vote, mostly white males. After the pessimism (including in this blog) it's nice to look at the actual vote count and see that Obama's votes were twice the number of Clinton's. Plus 7,000 more. The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza calls it a "landslide" and points to the fact that Obama "ran almost dead even with Hillary Clinton among white males (29 percent for Clinton, 27 percent for Obama." That's 27% in South Carolina where dregs of a vindictive Klan still make their prejudices and anger known.
During Clinton's concession speech in Nashville, the Times Katharine Seelye -- live-blogging -- wonders at the significance of Hillary's thank-you's not including her intrusive husband. Then Seelye writes, "The networks have now all cut away from her."
Meanwhile Obama doesn't forget to mention Bill Clinton. In fact, he quotes the ex-president: Seelye reports: "...He takes a line straight from Bill Clinton, circa 1992: 'This election is about the past versus the future.' ” Good shot!
As for Hillary's support from women, that seems to have dropped pretty low, at least in South Carolina. The Times reports on its front page:
Mrs. Clinton was supported by about 3 in 10 women over all, the exit polls showed. Among white women, she received support from 4 in 10, and among black women, less than 2 in 10. She had competed aggressively for their vote, particularly African-Americans to offset Mr. Obama’s advantages.
The Nation's John Nichols has this:
It is time for Bill Clinton to go home to Chappaqua and let his wife mount the honorable campaign that his presence on the trail leading up to Saturday's primary made impossible.
Even better if Bill were to take Hil with him... and let Obama and Edwards duke it out with real issues, like grownups.
Finally, a quote from Andrew Sullivan's blog. Sullivan has been an ardent fan of Obama and he's been collecting all the significant numbers from Obama's "landslide." Here's the biggest landslide potential of all, some very interesting stats provided by one of Sullivan's readers:
In last week's SC GOP primary, McCain and Huckabee (the top 2 finishers), got 147,283 and 132,440 votes respectively. That's a total of 279,723. Obama just pulled down 291,000 by himself. Here's the data.
I'd say this is the game changer. Obama can now say that he's got the best ability to put southern states in play. Obama can attempt a true 50 state strategy. He probably would not win too many southern states, but winning a few absolutely obliterates the GOP's chances in November.
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