Barack Obama, 2008 Democratic Party Nominee for President of the United States

I know I'm a little late with this, but as anyone can tell by the lack of posts, I've been busy.

On Tuesday night, we all witnessed a piece of history. We watched something unfold that even 3 months ago you probably would have said was impossible, and for the entire history of the United States, was impossible.

A black man will lead a major party into an election, with a very good chance of being the first man of color to actually take the mantle of President.

I remember the night that Obama won the first primary in Iowa, I was watching the results roll in on CNN and heard Wolf Blitzer say this about the historic victory that started the tidal wave, "This is only the first contest, and this doesn't mean a thing." I was taken aback, but it set a good standard for the quality and class of the media so far in this cycle. Next came Rev. Wright, Flag Pins and Ayers, and attempt after attempt to drive this campaign towards the meaningless gutter issues, by the classy media and an even classier Hillary Clinton, who was all too eager to go dirty the second she faltered.

But through it all, Barack Obama was never tripped up, he never strayed from his values, no matter how tempting it must have been to take shot after shot back at Hillary and really blow her hypocrisy and lying into the mainstream argument. He was class all the way. He gave her the benefit of the doubt, he let things slide that could have killed her early, and he re-directed things back to the issues whenever possible.

He never got that courtesy in return, but it didn't seem to matter. From the start Barack Obama didn't take lobbyist and PAC money, and he hasn't to this day. While John McCain sold his Maverick values for a staff full of lobbyists and Hillary sold her soul to anyone that would cash a cheque, be it corporate interests or not.

McCain so far, frankly, has looked well out of his depth, and like a complete fool during the free time he enjoyed in the last few months while Democrats were still battling. Mixing up Sunni and Shia Islam 4 separate times, saying the US was down to pre-surge levels in Iraq when they are not, flip flopping on things we had as a hallmark, like opposition to torture, the list goes on and on.

If anyone caught his speech on the night Obama clinched the nomination, you know how terrible he is going to look when put toe-to-toe with Barack. If you haven't seen it, well, gosh golly, I happen to have it right here :



McCain has challenged Obama to a series of 10 Town Hall-style debates across the country. I have heard the yay and the nay arguments on this, the nay being that McCain just wants to suck off Obama's star power, and get larger audiences than he has now, but I think the positives of making McCain look like a fool in real time outweigh anything he might gain.

The Obama camp has said they would like more of an open style than what the McCain campaign has designed, which of course would be ideal, as McCain isn't very good on his feet (or actually that good reading off a teleprompter, see video above). Even if they can't get that kind of forum, I think anything where McCain has to stand side-by-side, or on stools, or behind podiums with Obama is already a win in my books, because every single time, McCain will look like shit, guaranteed.

I think the real race for the Presidency just ended, as McCain should be like high school football next to the Super Bowl we just watched unfold. Hillary was ten times the campaigner and the opponent John McCain ever could be. They both would have walloped him in the fall.

I would like to salute Hillary Clinton, because she did break a glass ceiling for women, just as Obama broke it for minorities. She did receive millions of votes, even if she didn't win the popular vote, as she is claiming, as you cannot count a state where Obama wasn't on the ballot, and then not count caucus states where estimates are half a million people or more participated in.

She had moments where I wanted to throw my shoe at the TV, like during the ABC debate/debacle when she said Ayers was a legitimate talking point, or when she tacked "Not that I know of..." onto the end of an answer that should have been unequivocal about Obama being a Muslim, or when she said on more than one occasion that McCain and her had passed the leader test but Obama had just made a speech in 2002.

Her surrogates, and her husband stirred the race pot, subtly, and not-so-subtly. She let the campaign be run by a man that didn't understand the modern campaign, and bungled even management of an old-style campaign, Mark Penn. She disparaged states, didn't count others, and basically took February off and let Obama take the momentum, which he never gave back.

She was groundbreaking, but she made her share of mistakes, and had the misfortune of running against the most dynamic and powerful candidate since JFK.

When these campaigns were launched, it was seen as an inevitability that she would be the nominee. I knew of Obama earlier than he hit the mainstream and was a fan instantly, never thinking he would actually do this thing. It's an amazing feeling to watch someone, support them to your wits end, defend them like family even though you've never met and don't even share the same citizenship, and then have them pull off the most unexpected political victory in history.

So, hats off to Hillary, and I hope she doesn't fade away. She should stick in the Senate and help Obama pass Universal Health Care, there's the legacy she's looking for. Maybe the governorship of NY? Or a higher post in the Senate? Either way, she will not be President, and I don't mean now. This was a one shot deal for her, and that is why she fought so hard.

She will be 68 years old when Obama's theoretical two terms end, leaving little space to run again. Also, she has probably put many voters off her for a very long time. Hillary will fade to the background after Saturday, when she is officially ending her campaign, endorsing Obama and advising her supporters and donors to do the same.

The Democratic Party is Barack Obama's to lead now. He has started, instructing the DNC not to accept lobbyist funds, and pulling rogue 'Democrat' Joe Lieberman, by the hand, over to the corner in the Senate chamber to talk some sense into him for supporting McCain so vocally. That is what a leader does.

It will only grow from here, but a movement and an election that will shape this generation, my generation's future, is fully under way.

It began during Barack Obama's stirring speech on Tuesday from the site where the GOP will hold their convention in the summer. I was standing at my patio door, thinking, as I did during the Philadelphia speech on race, that I should remember where I was when this all went down, so that I can tell my kids what it was like to watch President Obama on his road to the White House.