January 27, 2008
Obama's Landslide Victory in South Carolina
Obama Carries South Carolina by Wide Margin NYTObama 55%
Clinton 27%
Edwards 18%
Here, without comment, is Barack Obama's soaring victory speech:
Over two weeks ago, we saw the people of Iowa proclaim that our time for change has come. But there were those who doubted this country’s desire for something new – who said Iowa was a fluke not to be repeated again.Posted by Diana at January 27, 2008 03:40 PMWell, tonight, the cynics who believed that what began in the snows of Iowa was just an illusion were told a different story by the good people of South Carolina.
After four great contests in every corner of this country, we have the most votes, the most delegates, and the most diverse coalition of Americans we’ve seen in a long, long time.
They are young and old; rich and poor. They are black and white; Latino and Asian. They are Democrats from Des Moines and Independents from Concord; Republicans from rural Nevada and young people across this country who’ve never had a reason to participate until now. And in nine days, nearly half the nation will have the chance to join us in saying that we are tired of business-as-usual in Washington, we are hungry for change, and we are ready to believe again
But if there’s anything we’ve been reminded of since Iowa, it’s that the kind of change we seek will not come easy. Partly because we have fine candidates in the field – fierce competitors, worthy of respect. And as contentious as this campaign may get, we have to remember that this is a contest for the Democratic nomination, and that all of us share an abiding desire to end the disastrous policies of the current administration.
But there are real differences between the candidates. We are looking for more than just a change of party in the White House. We’re looking to fundamentally change the status quo in Washington – a status quo that extends beyond any particular party. And right now, that status quo is fighting back with everything it’s got; with the same old tactics that divide and distract us from solving the problems people face, whether those problems are health care they can’t afford or a mortgage they cannot pay.
So this will not be easy. Make no mistake about what we’re up against.
We are up against the belief that it’s ok for lobbyists to dominate our government – that they are just part of the system in Washington. But we know that the undue influence of lobbyists is part of the problem, and this election is our chance to say that we’re not going to let them stand in our way anymore.
We are up against the conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as President comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to the White House. But we know that real leadership is about candor, and judgment, and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose – a higher purpose.
We are up against decades of bitter partisanship that cause politicians to demonize their opponents instead of coming together to make college affordable or energy cleaner; it’s the kind of partisanship where you’re not even allowed to say that a Republican had an idea – even if it’s one you never agreed with. That kind of politics is bad for our party, it’s bad for our country, and this is our chance to end it once and for all.
We are up against the idea that it’s acceptable to say anything and do anything to win an election. We know that this is exactly what’s wrong with our politics; this is why people don’t believe what their leaders say anymore; this is why they tune out. And this election is our chance to give the American people a reason to believe again.
And what we’ve seen in these last weeks is that we’re also up against forces that are not the fault of any one campaign, but feed the habits that prevent us from being who we want to be as a nation. It’s the politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon. A politics that tells us that we have to think, act, and even vote within the confines of the categories that supposedly define us. The assumption that young people are apathetic. The assumption that Republicans won’t cross over. The assumption that the wealthy care nothing for the poor, and that the poor don’t vote. The assumption that African-Americans can’t support the white candidate; whites can’t support the African-American candidate; blacks and Latinos can’t come together.
But we are here tonight to say that this is not the America we believe in. I did not travel around this state over the last year and see a white South Carolina or a black South Carolina. I saw South Carolina. I saw crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children. I saw shuttered mills and homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from all walks of life, and men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. I saw what America is, and I believe in what this country can be.
That is the country I see. That is the country you see. But now it is up to us to help the entire nation embrace this vision. Because in the end, we are not just up against the ingrained and destructive habits of Washington, we are also struggling against our own doubts, our own fears, and our own cynicism. The change we seek has always required great struggle and sacrifice. And so this is a battle in our own hearts and minds about what kind of country we want and how hard we’re willing to work for it.
So let me remind you tonight that change will not be easy. That change will take time. There will be setbacks, and false starts, and sometimes we will make mistakes. But as hard as it may seem, we cannot lose hope. Because there are people all across this country who are counting us; who can’t afford another four years without health care or good schools or decent wages because our leaders couldn’t come together and get it done.
Theirs are the stories and voices we carry on from South Carolina.
The mother who can’t get Medicaid to cover all the needs of her sick child – she needs us to pass a health care plan that cuts costs and makes health care available and affordable for every single American.
The teacher who works another shift at Dunkin Donuts after school just to make ends meet – she needs us to reform our education system so that she gets better pay, and more support, and her students get the resources they need to achieve their dreams.
The Maytag worker who is now competing with his own teenager for a $7-an-hour job at Wal-Mart because the factory he gave his life to shut its doors – he needs us to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas and start putting them in the pockets of working Americans who deserve it. And struggling homeowners. And seniors who should retire with dignity and respect.
The woman who told me that she hasn’t been able to breathe since the day her nephew left for Iraq, or the soldier who doesn’t know his child because he’s on his third or fourth tour of duty – they need us to come together and put an end to a war that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged.
The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It’s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white.
It’s about the past versus the future.
It’s about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today, or whether we reach for a politics of common sense, and innovation – a shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.
There are those who will continue to tell us we cannot do this. That we cannot have what we long for. That we are peddling false hopes.
But here’s what I know. I know that when people say we can’t overcome all the big money and influence in Washington, I think of the elderly woman who sent me a contribution the other day – an envelope that had a money order for $3.01 along with a verse of scripture tucked inside. So don’t tell us change isn’t possible.
When I hear the cynical talk that blacks and whites and Latinos can’t join together and work together, I’m reminded of the Latino brothers and sisters I organized with, and stood with, and fought with side by side for jobs and justice on the streets of Chicago. So don’t tell us change can’t happen.
When I hear that we’ll never overcome the racial divide in our politics, I think about that Republican woman who used to work for Strom Thurmond, who’s now devoted to educating inner-city children and who went out onto the streets of South Carolina and knocked on doors for this campaign. Don’t tell me we can’t change.
Yes we can change.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can seize our future.
And as we leave this state with a new wind at our backs, and take this journey across the country we love with the message we’ve carried from the plains of Iowa to the hills of New Hampshire; from the Nevada desert to the South Carolina coast; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope; and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people in three simple words:
Yes. We. Can.
Ick, all that spam.
Diana, this is incredible, your Christmas wish is coming true. Peace is on the horizon.
I'm happy to report I just voted for Obama!
What a day. History is in the making right before our very eyes, and we're all a part of it.
Obama!!!!!!!
Posted by: supa at February 5, 2008 10:47 AM.
Congrats in advance to you & your candidate in CA and elsewhere, Diana. Even a narrow loss for Obama will be a victory.
I think this illustrates my point that we need a bottom-up revolution in the Democratic Party, and that's what we're getting. The question will be, how many people will stay involved after the election, to hold Big O to his promises, and our hopes? It isn't up to him. It's up to us.
Barack's even raising the DEAD! (Mayor Daley would have been proud)
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003706697
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Spam all gone.
I'm just on my way to the polls, so I'll be brief.
Supa, Cosa, this is so exciting, I see a revolution sweeping the country. A once-in-lifetime leader has suddenly appeared on the world stage. I always hoped for this, but recently began to despair, for it sure didn't look like this would happen in my lifetime.
Anyway, I'm off to do my small bit.
Cheers! :)
Posted by: Diana at February 5, 2008 03:53 PM
Obama did well, considering that uneducated women and latinos voted in blocks for Hillary.
Obama is right, change isn't going to be easy, but change is on the march and it's unstoppable
Onward and upward :)
Cosa, I agree, and I know Obama would agree and has said as much in his speech, that change starts from the bottom, not from the top. But we've needed a change "agent" a catalyst for change at the top, because the top has been crushing the bottom and holding it down. Top and bottom working together is ideal. This wouldn't be possible had Obama not stepped forth to lead.
Politicians are a dime a dozen, but a true leader only comes along once in a very long time. And since a leader is not a boss, he basically takes people where they already want to go. People who support Obama have been there all along, they've wanted change for a very long time, decades in fact, but they've been disempowered by the powerful, locked-down and unable to act. This election is all about giving Obama the key to unlock the power that has always belonged to the people.
So without getting too high-falutin, I hope you will vote for Obama when the primaries come to Hawaii (that's where you are, right?)
Aloha :)
Things are looking even better for Obama two days after SuperTuesday.
It appears that Hillary's campaign is in real trouble financially. You probably already heard the news, but here's a couple of links.
Some Clinton staffers going without pay
Campaign faces cash crunch as Obama continues to raise money
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23037431/
Clinton dips into pocket to keep up with Obama
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080207/pl_nm/usa_politics_dc
Posted by: Diana at February 7, 2008 11:25 AM.
Still not a fan of the Man on the White Horse, even if he is (half) black. I prefer leaders who follow their people's wishes, hopes and dreams, not the other way around. Leaders who don't think of themselves as being on top of us. On the assumption that Barack Obama is that guy, I could see voting for him. But I'd need to see it a lot more. And I don't think that will happen unless we keep on demanding it.
As to the Powers That Be, their powers come from us. Without our support, active or passive, they are nothing. They just need to be reminded of that, from time to time. In my home State of New York, they recently got a very solid reminder:
"Analysis: Despite bosses' plans, voters won in NY primary"
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--nyprimary0209feb09,0,3731226.story
In my State of current residence, Obama is a sure thing, as a home-boy whose parents met at the UH, and conceived our first (admitted --no, proud) mixed-race Hawaii (not Hawaiian) President (maybe) here, who then attended our elite-est private school, Punahou, and, like most ambitious locals, moved on. Folks are kinda excited, expecting big things from a boy who knows his poi.
We're also mostly Democrats, so Hawaii will, as always, go Blue in November. It'll be interesting to see how the local Machine does next week. If Hillary continues to lose, or just win narrowly, it will get tough for her. It would make sense to come to some accommodation with Barack.
The problem is, I doubt she would accept the VP spot, though Obama would probably give her more to do than she would give him, were the roles reversed. Plus, they'd probably be the two most assassinate-able Presidents since that Irish-Catholic guy and his brother. Actually, being VP might be a better career move than it seems at first. (Until it's your turn in the gunsites . . . )
That is, if the Powers That Be actually allow us any choice at the Convention. It'll be hard for the so-called Super-delegates to deny any further popular demands for an Obama candidacy. It'll be hard for them to crown Clinton if she continues to flounder. But they might do it anyway.
If they do, and if we get a season of bickering, back-stabbing, race-baiting and gender-politicking, we could end up with that loon McCain in the White House. Much as I respect his record of service to the country, yadda-yadda, and his courageous stands on a few issues, it's his ass-licking of his former and current enemies in the nutso "Christian" Right, and his bizarre support for Bush's debacle in Iraq that just make him the worst possible alternative. So he'll prob'ly win.
It'll be an interesting time. Wait, isn't that a Chinese curse? Oh, well, Happy Year of the RAT!!! [cosmic irony alert]
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Thanks for that clear assessment Cosa.
After last weekend, things look mighty dismal for Hillary. If the momentum keeps up for Obama, the bandwagon effect is sure to kick in by the time the race hits Ohio and Texas. If Hillary loses those key states I think she'll have to concede the nomination to Obama. At this point Superdelegates can't save her. Not even her dogged determination will keep her in the race when her campaign runs out of cash and new donors continue to flock to Obama.
Looking ahead to the general, I can't think of a worse scenario than a Clinton v. McCain campaign. Not only will it get nasty, but Hillary will consolidate the Republican base for McCain. They'll come out in droves to vote against her. At the same time, she'll alienate the independents who have rallied to support Obama, thus ensuring a McCain victory.
Things would look very different in an Obama v. McCain race. The stark contrast between them will raise the level of the debate, and educate citizens about what really matters. The central question will likely be, who is more capable of protecting this country from another 9/11? Will more bombs, more conflict, more war, even a 100 year occupation of Iraq, make us safer, or will it embloden our enemies? I think the argument will clearly favor Obama. McCain is riding a crest, based on the notion that the "surge is working." He can draw support as long as that stays in play, but I doubt it will be sustainable. I expect by the time the general election comes about, it will become clear that the surge has failed to stabilize the country. Obama, as the only anti-war candidate left standing, is perfectly positioned to take optimum advantage of a change in perception about our "success" in Iraq.
From now until the general, we'll continue to get bad news, like this today. We'll probably hit the benchmark of 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed right about that time:
Dozens Die In Iraq Bombings During Gates Visit
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/11/dozens-die-in-iraq-bombin_n_86099.html
Interesting times, indeed :)
btw, I'm a native New Yorker, now living in L.A.
How do you like my home town?
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I LOVE LA!
Well, Randy Newman's LA. I used to live in Santa Monica, back when it was cheap, and Venice was all hippies, and Orange County was all rednecks. It was OK by the beach, but the rest of it you can have.
That goes for most of California, which is why everybody wants to live within 50 miles of the ocean, I guess; driving land values there through the roof, and leaving most of the State un/derpopulated. Though I hear my old desert redoubt is growing into a real exurb around Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree and 29 Palms. I prefer the Bay Area, though it can be tiresome, too. Everyone's so GOOD it requires that you shoot insulin. San Diego is nice, but boring. Don't really know the top of the State all that well.
Still, it's the most live-able State on the Mainland west of the West Side Highway. I miss NY three meals a day. No one outside of the City seems to know what bread is, any more. I miss walking. I miss bumping into Nelson Mandela or Henry Kissinger or Faye Dunaway or Debby Harry while strolling around. I miss my spooky old neighborhood, between Wall St and the WTC. Guess I'll never see that again. Or egg creams.
Hawaii is perfect if you're a beachophile, otherwise, not so much. The weather is usually perfect, year-round. But how much can you talk about it? You'd be surprised.
We have our native son, Barack, to talk about now. And everybody is. First real excitement and most positive feelings I've seen for a candidate since good old Clean For Gene. Did you see that idiot's column in the Times about a personality cult? The real problem is Billary's negative personality. And their record, of course.
It would be horrible to have a campaign where Clinton & McCain just argued about how MUCH war we're going to get. That's the biggest attraction about Obama: He had the balls to come right out against the war without apology or equivocation. I think most people agree with him, and just want out of the oil companies' mess. I hope he prosecutes Bush et cie. I'd love to see him ask McCain about that, in a debate.
This is a case where real leadership absolutely consists of bringing out the people's better side, and doing the right thing as we all know it. All McCain, Bush, Betrayus and the rest of them are actually saying is that we're never leaving Iraq. Never. That's the real position: Not when we'll leave, but if. It'll be another Korea, Japan, Germany, but without reason, except oil. And those occupations did not involve, inspire, or import terrorism, which this one will, if it takes a generation, as in 1948-1968 Israel.
So it's just good sense, and good leadership, that Obama has specifically named solar as a priority. If we'd done it in the 70s, we'd never have gone into Iraq. (Let Israel fight their own battles. Maybe they'd learn to get along with their neighbors.) No oil, no blood, no reason. We need a President who can propose and do what we all know is the right thing to do: Get off oil, get out of the Middle East, focus on our own problems, and get back to leading the world by example, instead of bullying. Just good old American common freakin' sense.
It's really too bad that Hillary is a women of that generation that thinks they have to be like men, or worse, to succeed. Playing a supportive role to Obama could really be her greatest historical opportunity. It would relieve her of the necessity of playing a militaristic hard-ass to show she's not anti-military and weak on defense. It would allow her to play a special role in those areas where she has shone, and seems genuinely to care about, like health-care and women's & family issues. We really need the special moral authority of a mother on those issues. You know you can't say no to your Mom when she's right about stuff like that. What's she going to do, nuke you? No, she's just going to give you that look, and stand there, and tap her foot until you do what she says. Because she's right, and you know it. No one out-ranks a Mom when she's in the right. All sexism aside, she could be a great leader as Obama's plenipotentiary in those areas.
Then Obama could focus his special authority as a black man on a Wilsonian remaking of American domestic and foreign policy and military strategy, unbound by the White Man's Burden, anti-communism, psuedo-anti-terrorism, and all that tired old Republican angry-white-guy bullshit. Let one right-wing nut attack him, and watch the nut flinch when an angry black man rounds on him. Bwa-ha-ha! Priceless. Obama would never have to prove his manhood, or how tough he is, by sabre-rattling, or interventionism. He wouldn't be distracted by all that military macho paranoid nonsense, as too many Democratic Presidents have been, and as Hillary already has been. Let a black President walk down the street, and all the little chickenshit countries will quickly cross the street, or grab a cab. Instead of "Hail To The Chief," they could play the "Theme From Shaft" when Obama comes around. Shut yo' mouth!
Seriously, I think Obama-Clinton would be unbeatable. But Clinton-Obama would be like a bad remake of "Driving Miss Daisy," where Daisy gets her driver's license back and runs the car into a pedestrian mall. Let's not green-light that one. We owe it to our troops to bring them home alive, now. Let NATO or the UN or some all-Muslim force sort out the mess we've made of Iraq. Our presence can only make things worse. You're right, as usual, Diana, it'll be a sad year in Iraq until we get rid of the Bush-rot. But we can actually do it by voting. Goddess Bless America!
Posted by: cosanostradamus at February 12, 2008 03:49 AMI did catch the column in the Times about the Obama personality cult and find all these efforts to undermine him amusing. To me his detractors look like primates throwing shit at the man, hoping some of it will stick, and yet it never does, though you can be darn sure they'll keep trying. But there's a funny thing that happens, the harder they try to demean him, the more it reflects badly on them. At the same time, the longer they persist in this kind of behavior, the more they give Obama reason to repeat the most central theme of his campaign for all to hear: this kind of dirty politics will end when I am the President of the United States!
Did you catch the boos from the audience when Hillary took that cheap shot at Obama about "xerox?" It's as if she just can't suppress her venal side. Somehow it pops out at the most inappropriate times, sabotaging her own desperate efforts to win over voters.
Somehow I can't picture Hillary as Obama's V.P. I would be terribly disappointed.
The core of the problem with "Ms. Frigidaire" is her cold and calculating vote for the war. It's not that people dislike Hillary's personality, grating as it may be, it's that they detest her for the lack of humanity she revealed by voting to enable Bush's war, a war that has inflicted death and suffering on over a million innocent people, most of them women and children. Where was this great champion of women and children when Bill Clinton imposed sanctions on Iraq, causing the death of half a million Iraqi children? Where was her voice when Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, declared that the sacrifice of innocent children "is worth it?" Did her polls tell her that Americans don't give a damn about little brown Iraqi children?
You captured the problem with Hillary succinctly when you said:
"It's really too bad that Hillary is a women of that generation that thinks they have to be like men, or worse, to succeed."
There is something twisted and sad about a woman trying to be like the worst of men, and betraying herself in the process, just to advance her own political career. "What does it profit a -woman- to gain the whole world and lose her own soul?" Hillary represents a generation of women who seem to have gotten stuck in a transitional time. They never came through that period with an understanding that the whole point of the feminist movement was not to become like the militarist, dominating men in order to gain admittance to their sacred shrines of power and patriarchy, but to claim the right to be our own integral selves as women and as human beings, in order to bring the powers-that-be into balance for the sake of all humanity. The point, they somehow missed, is that the militarists are disfunctional males, and imitating their behavior does not change the dynamic, it only helps perpetuate it, creating a mass of disfunction in the whole society.
So you have disfunctional males and disfunctional females suddenly confronted by an integral human being, who has a balance of both the feminine and male aspects of his personality, shining light on their sickness by his very presence. That's mighty threatening.
I expect they'll throw more and more shit at Obama the more desperate they become. My feeling is that he will be able to withstand the silliness. He has the big guns -- an awakened people with the power to vote their conscience.
Glory be :)
Posted by: Diana at February 23, 2008 12:07 AM.
I think Obama succeeds where the Clintons failed, in changing the debate. It's not about race or gender. It's not about class or geography. It's not about education or ideology, religion or military service, abortion or immigration. It's about strength through unity, and unity through strength. It's about one nation, indivisible even by our own wannabee leaders. It's about us, the rest of us, all of us: The vast majority who are quite happy to go unnoticed most of the time. But not now. We want our country back, and we're taking it back, one State at a time.
I don't think there's much chance of Hillary for VP. Even if she would accept it, Obama would be signing his own death-warrant by offering it. She makes Lady Macbeth look like Mother Theresa.
It is sad, the stuff that the older generation of women had to go through to get us here. But it is irrelevant to this election. We don't need an iron-pants male impersonator now, like Maggie Thatcher, Golda Meir, or Indira Ghandi, much less an Evita Peron. Hillary's role models should have been, rather, Joan of Arc, Lady Godiva, Lysistrata, or, if she really cared about the troops, and health care, Clara Barton.
All women with the courage of their convictions, however dangerous, impolitic or humiliating. Women who did things as only women can do them; things no man could ever do.
That is why, in case any of you fungi out there were wondering, we have two sexes in the first place: So we can avail ourselves of another viewpoint, summon other strengths and other wisdom, and come together with the power of two to do whatever must be done to make this world a better place to live in. Even if it means thinking differently.
That's why men and women like Obama: Ironically, he's more different from the men now in power than Hillary, who plays upon her gender, but does not exercise its' strengths. She's just the kind of a guy who won't stop and ask for directions when she's lost. Obama, we hope, is not.
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