Thoughts on Obama's Wisconsin Victory

For people in Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states which have yet to voice their opinion at the polls in this year's Democratic primary: a reflection of my experience of Barack Obama's campaign victory in Wiscosin...


The pundits and pollsters were saying this would be a close election here in Wisconsin. But I had trouble believing them because polls were at least a week old. Obama has a ground game and infrastructure in place here like none other seen before, so I knew he'd pick up about 10 points in the polls during that week. He made 2 visits to Wisconsin in the past couple years even before he announced his candidacy, so people here have had him on their radar screens for a while and quickly became excited about him once they got a closer look.

The exit polls showed that he won across the board demographically, even splitting the vote of Hillary's base of white women and winning among working class Democrats. That's daunting news for Clinton going into Texas and Ohio, where already in Texas he's almost pulled even before campaigning there and where he's picked up 10 points in Ohio in just last week. This race is all but over now, yet Hillary seems determined to split the Democratic party if necessary to get her way. The management of their respective campaigns has given people insight into the kind of Presidents each candidate would become.

I attended his rally in Milwaukee on Friday to experience it myself, and man was it packed with a powerful energy. I've never seen a candidate like Obama who inspires people to unite in participating in their government, not only in my lifetime, but as a U.S. history major for my bachelors, I can't think of any in history, not even Kennedy. That's why Wisonsinites saw through Hillary's hollow attacks against him...words are action, they accomplish a vital role in giving voice and cohesion to the grassroots movement for change that preceded the election.

People are excited to get involved in politics now, because Obama knows that action doesn't happen through partisan politics by people in Washington, but rather people in Washington are swayed by the energy of a movement in which their consitituents participate. For example, Abraham Lincoln was reluctant to take on the slavery issue but he later gave voice to the abolitionist movement that preceded him to bring about change. Likewise, Lyndon Johnson resisted the civil rights movement but was persuaded in his presidency by the movement that preceded him to take on the cause himself. Now our generation has the same opportunity to elect a President who symbolizes the grassroots movement to change the way America has been governed from Richard Nixon through George W. Bush.

That's why this election is historic, not just because Obama could be the first black president, but that he could be one of the few presidents ever to unite a working majority of Americans to participate in their government. We've learned not to trust the system that sends politicians to Washington who will fail on their own to give us health care, end an unjust war, invigorate the economy with green collar jobs for alternative energy that will also improve our national security, and overcome the partisan politics that divides us as a nation. Instead, we've come to see that these goals will only be realized by us taking ownership of the task and getting to work in our government to bring the change we seek. Obama defines how he will govern as President by this principle.

That's what Hillary doesn't understand when she tries to persuade voters with her experience. She has the wrong kind of experience, the experience of a Washington bureaucrat using uncompromising partisan attacks that we've seen divide us and fail us for decades. Obama has the experience of bringing new people on board in a governing process for change that they help to shape themselves. And that is why first time voters, independents, and even many Republicans rally around him to unite in this movement.

Image 1: {http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=21598}
Image 2: {http://votesmart.org/blog/?cat=15}