IS IT REAL OR JUST THE WIND?
(Feb. 12, Madison, WI) After chalking up eight primary and / or caucus victories in the past seven days, now front running democratic presidential hopeful, Barak Obama spoke here tonight in front of an enthusiastic crowd upwards of 17,000 in number. He has now won contests in states in all regions of the country. The demographic specifics compiled in exit and other polling suggests the Illinois Senator is experiencing an ever increasing wide range of support throughout the voting populace. Be they men, women, young, old, black, white, well educated or minimally schooled, Americans of every stripe have caste votes for Mr. Obama.
Perhaps most surprised by Obama’s current ‘surge’ and growing popularity, are the people running Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The last month has seen her fall from virtual inevitable democratic candidate to playing catch up with Mr. Obama. Insiders, outsiders, reporters and pundits have begun to seriously consider questions about Hillary’s future that would have seemed unimaginable at the beginning of the year.
It was not supposed to be this way. The high-powered, finely tuned Clinton “Machine” with the former President, Bill Clinton leading this vast political armada, was expected to sail smoothly through the primary season, arrive at a safe harbor in Denver where the DNC Convention will take place in August; rearm, re-supply and cruise into the general election in November where victory would be certain.
Alas, now, the “Perfect Storm”. A renegade fleet commanded by an upstart freshman senator, a young man without the experience, savvy or tactical acumen of the Clinton Armada, has outflanked, out maneuvered and simply out sailed them. Not only was this flanking maneuver unanticipated, it was considered blatant piracy by the Clinton’s. Their first impulse was to launch an assault, a bombardment, hoping to scare off the Obama Fleet. That didn’t work and actually had serious negative consequences as they engaged in the waters off the coast of South Carolina.
Since that pivotal engagement the Clinton’s have been adrift, confused, suddenly in unfamiliar waters. What they may have failed to realize despite their years of political navigational experience was the shifting tides, the unusual winds of change that favored the smaller, swifter Obama Fleet.
This clash will go down in the annals of political combat as historic for a host of reasons. Perhaps most notable are the admirals themselves, a woman and a black man. Never before in our history have we witnessed such a confrontation. Hopefully, the tides and currents that are moving Fleet Obama forward are not merely transient forces. Hopefully they are fueled by the restive public, tired and weary of living with a federal government that threatens to drown most of those without the money to remain afloat on increasingly troubled waters. Maybe, just maybe, Fleet Obama will prevail and, in so doing, will mark the end of one chapter in our national and political history and usher in the next. Surely, the people, the vast majority of people are sick and tired of being hapless victims of a belligerent, unresponsive, arrogant, corrupt, inept, reckless, delusional ship of state that needs to be moth-balled immediately, if not sooner. The damage they have inflicted across the globe by their hubris and self-righteousness will take years to reverse. The storms they have generated have left vast swaths of our country and the globe soaked and gasping.
We can only hope Fleet Obama finds safe harbor and restores some sense and calm to the roiling seas of discontent, economic hardship and reverse the sense that we have been heading in the wrong direction for seven years.
Surely many battles await over the horizon but suddenly, as if we were asleep as it happened, it looks as if some rescue and relief is in sight.
Copyright © 2008 TBC All Rights Reserved
