I support Obama because on the day Barack Obama is inaugurated, America will think differently of itself, and this is no small thing. Imagine the symbolism of it. Do not short shrift symbols, for they are very powerful. To be able to point to a President Barack Obama and tell a child of any color anywhere in America that they, too, through education and hard work, could someday be anything they want to be...that’s a powerful thing, especially in our melting-pot nation.
I support Obama because Obama’s narrative is quintessentially American. A biracial kid with an absentee father whose improbable path carried him from Hawaii to Indonesia to Chicago to Washington; a Harvard law grad who turned down a coveted Supreme Court clerkship to work as a community organizer on Chicago’s South Side; a United States Senator who still shops for groceries with his young children, and who only recently got out from underneath his student loans; a family man with a solid marriage to a bright and dynamic, articulate and self-made woman; a man of faith who walks the walk of his religion.
I support Obamabecause Senator Obama inspires people of all ages to action. And while inspiration alone isn’t enough to get the job done, it’s a necessary ingredient to begin the hard work. After sixteen years of Clinton and Bush hyper-partisanship, Obama’s appeal to Americans to have the audacity to hope falls on fertile ground. His unwillingness to cross the line into the dark side of politics has touched a fundamental place in the hearts of many who are eager to believe that the political process is not entirely a cynical joke.
I support Obamabecause Senator Obama understands that you win elections not by pandering to your base, but by drawing support from independents and from the opposite side, by articulating what unifies people rather than exploiting what divides them. Change comes not just from knowing how to work the levers of power – it takes more than that. It takes creating the popular movements necessary to support and sustain change. No other candidate spurs that kind of enthusiasm.
I support Obamabecause Obama’s appeal also rests on an attractive optimism, a chance for America to move beyond the poisonous legacy of the divisions wrought between liberals and conservatives by the 1960s, Vietnam, and the 1990s. He meets a hunger that exists nationwide to turn the page on the tired ideological battles of the past. With Senator John McCain as the Republican nominee for the general election campaign, a man with broad popular appeal but also a man who, if elected, would be the oldest president at inauguration in American history, what better choice between past and future could Americans be offered than between he and Obama? A choice between McCain and Clinton is little more than a choice between different and clashing versions of the past.
I support Obamabecause Obama has built a campaign unlike seen before, based on cross-cultural and multi-generational grassroots movements and community building. He possesses an exceptional and enduring talent for connecting with voters, and has attracted voters on a level unseen in decades: over one million Americans have contributed to his campaign! His appeal is also much broader ideologically and racially than perhaps any politician in American history, and his demographic diversity contrasts sharply and is more representative of America than Senator McCain’s demographic monotony: mostly white, and mostly male.
I support Obamabecause Obama energizes youth for service and involvement to a degree also unseen in decades. This is a crucial point for Democrats to understand: it is well known that if a Party attracts new voters for their first election, those voters tend to stick with that Party for most of their lives.
I support Obamabecause on the day Barack Obama is inaugurated, the world will think differently of America. The election of Obama, a man with a multicultural name and heritage, would overnight begin to improve the image of the United States abroad, and send the global message that a post-Bush and post-Clinton 21st-century American era has arrived. With his election, the value of America’s moral currency abroad would begin to be restored.
I support Obamabecause of Obama’s stalwart opposition to the Iraq War since before its beginning, and his stalwart dedication to see the Iraq War to its end. Obama said, in 2002: "I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world and strengthen the recruitment arm of al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars." In 2008, Obama speaks once again for millions: "I don’t want to just end the war, I want to end the mind-set that got us into war in the first place."
I support Obamabecause Obama is a Harvard-educated constitutional law scholar, and civil libertarian. In his campaign speeches, he has frequently referred to his desire to close Guantanamo, stop torture, restore habeas corpus rights to detainees, bring back our lost civil liberties, and return to a presidency that sticks to its vow to follow the U.S. Constitution.
I support Obamabecause in addition to being the candidate most likely to lure people to the polls who don’t typically vote, particularly the young, Obama will lure black voters who, if presented with the prospect of electing the first black president, will turn out in record numbers. And yet Obama is a black man who does not run as a black candidate. He never dwells on racial issues. When he mentions emancipation and civil rights, it is right alongside women’s rights and workers’ rights. He does not need to speak about black-white reconciliation – he embodies it.
I support Obamabecause Obama pushes progressive values into the mainstream. He constantly talks about his core liberal philosophy in a way that’s appealing to non-liberals. He has an ability to use his eloquence not just to persuade, but to mobilize, and to unite. Unlike the Clinton method of triangulating, moving Democrats to the middle, Obama moves the middle to our values. He stands for progressive values while appealing to common sense and pragmatism over ideology and demagoguery. And the end effect might be an ascendant, mainstream progressive party that enacts its values into laws.
I support Obamabecause Obama has the potential to be a transformative American leader. The best leaders are like magnets beneath a piece of paper, invisibly aligning iron filings into new patterns of their design. Obama could be such a leader. Most of the presidents in American history who have been transformative have been charismatic figures with exceptional oratorical skills who persuaded Americans to share in their larger vision. I am not able to imagine a President Hillary Clinton or a President John McCain being similarly transformative, or being such a magnet.
I support Obama because Obama has more ability to expand the electoral map than does Senator Clinton. Of course, it is only March, less than eight months until the November election, and things could change. But aren’t we supposed to be choosing the candidate who gives us the best chance at regaining the White House?
I support Obamabecause Obama has great crossover appeal. He reaches out warmly to independents, moderate Republicans, and evangelicals. He has done better than Clinton in red states, purple states, and any-colored states with open primaries where non-Democrats are allowed to participate. This could mean he has more ability to win support from independents in the general election, independents who overwhelmingly disapprove of the Iraq War and who, when given the choice between Obama and McCain, are not likely to give their support to a man who says that America could be in Iraq for another hundred years.
I support Obamabecause I know that most voters do not vote primarily on the basis of policies, but rather on values, connection, authenticity, trust, and identity. Obama has solid progressive values. He connects with voters as no politician has done since Reagan, or Kennedy. His authenticity is unquestioned. Recent polls reveal greater than 20-point differences between Obama and McCain on matters of trust and identity.