Changing politics as usual

In slightly more than a year, there will be a new president in the United where both Democrats and Republicans have significant primary elections. This election is so unique because it is the _first time since 1928 in which there is no incumbent President or Vice President seeking the Presidential nomination of his party. With critical issues on the table including the war in iraq, economic conditions and health care concerns, this election will determine the course of America for years to come.

 

While the Republican primary seems to be a little more up in the air, the Democratic race appears to be more a horse race between senators Hillary Clinton an Barack Obama. Senator Clinton has been the frontrunner in almost every major poll. The candidacy of the charismatic Senator Obama, however continues to inspire people with a sense of optimism and unity. His supporters say they have not felt this way about any candidate in many years, moved by his promises to change the political culture in Washington.

In a self-deprecating manner that many find infectious, Senator Obama describes himself as a skinny kid with a funny name. But since his inspiring speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, as just an Illinois state senator, he has become one of the rock stars of the Democratic Party, and is currently the only African American serving in the United States Senate. Obama has an extremely diverse background.

His father was a Muslim from Kenya and his mother was a white American woman from Kansas. Although he spent most of his childhood in Hawaii, Obama also lived in Indonesia for four years. Senator Obama’s educational background is equally interesting. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School where he served as Harvard Law Review’s first black president in its more than one hundred year history. In 2004, Obama was elected to the United States Senate to represent the state of Illinois and since then has gained popularity with his early position against the war in Iraq, and for bringing consensus to Washington to reshape the status quo of partisanship and division.

Since entering the presidential race earlier this year Senator Obama has drawn huge crowds nearly everywhere he has spoken, and has broken fundraising re-cords. Why all the excitement? Obama presents himself as a candidate for change, frequently criticizing Washington-style politics, which he says have left the American people without a true voice, because of corruption and the strong influence of special interests. He has amassed a treasure chest of campaign funds to spend on the primary election, by focusing on small contributions from average citizens and by refusing money from lobbyists and political action committees that he thinks are part of the problem in Washington. During the first half of this year Obama out-fundraised his opponents by collecting roughly $58 million USD for his campaign. In addition, he raised this money from a staggering 258,000 donors, which was signiicantly more than any other candidate. His campaign website received 717,000 unique visitors in July alone; almost double the unique visits received by Senator Clinton’s website.

The themes of Obama’s campaign have focused on a few major issues. The first of which is his opposition to the war in Iraq, which the Senator refers to as «the biggest foreign policy disaster of our generation.» Obama frequently points back to interviews before the war, where he questioned intelligence reports and warned about the dangers of invasion. He stated at a 2002 anti-war rally in Chicago, «I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the lames 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.» Obama is quick to draw distinctions between himself and his major rivals in the Democratic primary, all of whom voted for the war. Just recently, Senator Obama outlined his most detailed plan for Iraq, which calls for the withdrawal of United States combat brigades by the end of next year, while leaving in place an unspecified number of troops to fight insurgents, train Iraqi troops and to protect American interests.

This summer Senator Obama also found himself in a heated debate with his rivals about the type of diplomacy he would conduct as president with governments that are unfriendly to the United States. The clash occurred when Obama was asked in a debate about meeting with the leaders of nations such as Iran, Syria and Cuba with no preconditions. Offering a strong shift from the diplomacy seen from re-cent administrations, Obama stated he would meet with these leaders to find a way to move forward and to be clear about the position of the United States on key issues. He added, «I think it’s a disgrace that we have not spoken to them.» For several weeks after this debate, Obama was criticized by his opponents (chief among them being Sen. Hill-ary Clinton) of being both irresponsible and naïve on foreign policy, but Obama stood his ground and reiterated his position by saying, «I don’t want Bush-Cheney lite, I want fundamental change.»

This fundamental change that Senator Obama seeks in his presidential bid is what has made his campaign compelling, and it’s what he has used to paint himself as a Washington outsider. Obama believes that those candidates who tout their experience in Washing-ton are praising experiences in a system that has not worked for the American

Obama would meet the leader of Syria to find ways to move forward in Syrian-US relations

people for a long time. The Senator has proposed many government reforms, including initiatives that would in-crease transparency and ethics reform and has ventured outside of traditional campaigning by not pandering to every group to which he speaks. For example, while speaking to members of the auto industry, he criticized them for the industry’s poor fuel efficiency standards. He has also been outspoken on issues of diplomacy in the Middle East, the current United States policy towards Cuba, and even about African Americans taking greater responsibility in improving their communities. Obama is convinced that changing America’s politics is the key to changing the country, and that politicians should be telling people what they need to hear not just what they want to hear. In fact, when he began to consider his bid for the presidency, Senator Obama is reported to have told his senior staffers, «I’m in this to win, I want to win, and I think we will win. But I’m also going to emerge intact. I’m going to be Barack Obama and not some parody.» Thus, avoiding the smallness of politics, staying above the fray and remaining focused on the issues that matter to people have been the strategies of his campaign.

Despite all of the excitement generated by the Obama campaign, he faces many critics. Some contend that the United States is not ready for a black president, while others suggest that Barack Obama is not black enough since he does not share the same background as most African Americans. Senator Obama’s biggest critics, however, cite his lack of experience as evidence that he is not ready to be president. After all, he has only served in the United States Senate for four years and has been unscathed by Washington due to his lack of a voting record. But Obama remains unfazed. He brings attention to the fact that President Bush’s administration was one of the most politically experienced administrations on paper, and yet managed to create a disaster in Iraq. The Senator also believes that along with experience, one needs judgment to make the right choices. Obama consistently states that he had the good judgment to oppose the war in Iraq war from the beginning unlike his opponents. Although he remains in second place for now, it is still early and Obama is within striking distance of Senator Clinton. His biggest challenges will be translating his massive grassroots support into actual votes and convincing voters that his presidency has the best chance of bringing the change that they desire. Only time will tell whether he will accomplish this. Nevertheless, what is certain is that Barack Obama has created a movement of people seeking to change politics as usual.