The journey could not have been less likely.
Only four short years ago, Barack Hussein Obama was a virtually unknown state lawmaker who riveted the 2004 Democratic National Convention with his call to end “the politics of cynicism” practiced by those who “like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states.”
Obama’s meteoric rise from Illinois statehouse to the White House is testament to his extraordinary ability to connect with voters across geographic, generational, racial and political fault lines - as much a personality trait as a political program. That helped him to remake the nation’s political map, rolling up states like Virginia and Colorado, as well as the reliably Democratic Northeast, forging coalitions of young voters, African-Americans and white Midwesterners, and leveraging networks from Wall Street to Washington, which we call ‘muckety,’ for support.
Barack Obama
The man who was elected the 44th president of the United States is something new on the American political scene: A 47-year-old African-American politician without a race-based agenda; an Ivy League-educated policy wonk who shoots hoops and listens to the rapper Jay-Z; a biracial man who is able to address the hopes and fears of suburban whites, as well as blacks, Hispanics and Jews.
Racking up a decisive 364 electoral college votes, Obama defeated Sen. John McCain, 72, a war hero making his second bid for the presidency, who was hurt by his association with an historically unpopular Republican president, as well as his inability to offer a compelling rationale for his election. The Illinois senator also led Democrats to huge gains in Congress.
Standing before tens of thousands of cheering supporters at Chicago’s Grant Park last night, Obama acknowledged the moment’s significance.
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” he said.
But even as many, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, wiped tears from their eyes, he also struck a sober tone.
“The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep,” he said. “We may not get there in one year or even one term. But America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.”
On the most fundamental level, the Democratic sweep reflected voters’ disillusionment with an unpopular Republican president and their anxieties about a country suffering its worst economic crisis in 70 years.
But it also spoke to the Illinois senator’s skill at mixing an idealist’s message with a pragmatist’s tactics - skills he honed in his rise through the bare-knuckled and often tribal politics of Chicago.
He will go down in campaign history for raising $639 million which gave him an almost two-to-one financial advantage over McCain.
He harnessed the Internet to mobilize young voters, mining the political possibilities of YouTube and text-messaging in ways that revolutionized campaigning.
And he showed over and over that he was a tough tactician, from his much-criticized early decision to reject public financing for his campaign to his skill at building a superior ground organization.
Even as he cast himself as a change agent to a beleaguered electorate, moreover, he showed himself a deliberate, even a cautious man who sought the advice and counsel of multiple advisers – surrounding himself not only with the best political operatives from Chicago, but also members of Bill Clinton’s brain trust and his old network from Harvard Law School.
Now comes the tough part – translating that into actual policy. Acknowledging the Herculean task ahead, he called on his supporters for help last night, reminding them as he has throughout the campaign that change happens from the bottom up.
“Above all,” he said, “I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation the only way its been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.”
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