Well my mind keeps goin through them changes
I think I'm goin outta my mind
-- Buddy Miles, "Dem Changes"
Well, after her loss in the Iowa caucuses, Sen. Hillary Clinton may be going out of her mind. Sen. Barack Obama's victory derailed Clinton's express train back to the White House.
It was serendipitous that I ran into my dear friend, Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree Jr., who's in town for the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools. Obama and his wife, Michelle Robinson Obama, were students of Prof. Ogletree in the late '80s. So, naturally I was eager to get Tree's take.
Tree told me:
Barack Obama's success in Iowa is a message for democratic change. This is reminiscent of John Kennedy's success 40 years ago. Barack Obama's message has changed the American orthodoxy in politics. There is no way nor no one who can stop him now.
He is a unique candidate who brings together Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans who are committed to uniting America in one voice and in one strategy that is inclusive, progressive and positive.
I asked Tree what does Obama's victory mean for black Americans. He said:
A skinny kid from Hawaii has gone from an anomaly in the Illinois senate to the prohibitive favorite for the White House. And he happens to be unmistakably the first African American candidate with the likelihood of being elected.
Tree's observations were echoed by another good friend, Florida state Sen. Anthony C. "Tony" Hill Sr., an early Obama backer. In an email, Tony wrote:
We smell history in the air and it smells like Barack Obama in 2008. This is the biggest story in political history this country has ever experienced. Fifty-one percent voted for change in the Iowa entrance polls. I think we will end up with an 8 to 10 point lead. This is unheard of in American politics.
The record turnout of 239,000 Democratic caucus-goers shows what happens when unlikely voters show up: the election outcome is unpredictable. While politicians routinely say they want to increase voter turnout, the dirty little secret of American politics is that incumbents – and front-runners – don't want to expand the electorate. They merely want a higher turnout of their supporters.
In his victory speech, Obama promised:
To end the political strategy that's been all about division, and instead make it about addition. To build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states.
As Tony well knows, when the "vanishing voter" shows up on Election Day, the paradigm shifts. In the 2000 presidential election, Tony and then-Florida state Sen. Kendrick Meek mobilized a coalition of hundreds of thousands of disaffected, young and first-time voters and made history in an election that was too close to call.
If Obama continues to inspire new voters to participate in the political process, a new coalition could change the course of history and bring about change in the direction of the country.
