We Have A Dream

The Next President

The headline of the day (next to the BBC's GREAT TITS COPE WELL WITH WARMING--it's about the birds, of course, coping with global warming--what did you think it meant? ) is this one from Politico: CLINTON WON'T QUIT; OBAMA DOESN'T CARE.

While Clinton is off getting heckled in West Virginia and playing shock jock with her overtly racist analyses, Obama is mobbed by members of Congress of both parties on the House floor. With every day that passes, the Clinton candidacy recedes. She won Indiana by less than 1%, which means that Rush Limbaugh was her margin of victory.

She has no path to the nomination within the rules, let alone the rules of decency. Today there is still talk about her wanting and even demanding the v.p. spot, but that too will soon fade. The Clintons are yesterday. If they hadn't run such a mean-spirited campaign--and especially if they weren't still at it--there might be cause for some sadness in that. But not from me. By the time she wins West Virginia Tuesday, Hillary will be lucky if a cable network other than Fox carries her victory speech. Even the chair of the Democratic party in West Virginia suggested she might drop out before then.

Obama has turned his attention to the general election, while still showing respect for the voters in the remaining states with contests by campaigning there. His next victory is likely to be on May 20 in Oregon, when he almost certainly will have obtained the majority of total pledged delegates available from all the primaries and caucuses. If not by then, then soon after, party leaders in Michigan and Florida will have made deals to have delegations seated at the Convention, even if Hillary doesn't approve. Obama doesn't have to mollify the Clintons or figure out what he has to give them in order for Hillary to drop out. He needs only to show her voters and supporters respect by allowing her to continue until the contests are over--respect that in many cases they didn't show him. And if she doesn't concede by mid June, the super-delegates will move en masse to Obama.

The Democrats are in great position to win the presidency and gain greater majorities in Congress. They aren't going to let that be messed up. The longer the Clintons stay in, the more obvious it becomes to Democrats that they've picked the right candidate, not only to run for President, but to be President.

George McGovern, who switched his endorsement from Clinton to Obama, says of him, "We may have a second Lincoln."

So on August 28, the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, Barack Obama will accept the nomination of the Democratic Party for the presidency of the United States.

Thank you, North Carolina!

Barack Obama is headed for a big win in North
Carolina. All the networks called it for him immediately
as the polls closed. Meanwhile, Indiana is still too
close to call. Update: Obama came closer than anyone
predicted in Indiana. In his victory speech in N.C. he said
repeatedly that he has faith in the American people.
That faith was confirmed in these elections, when the
distractions, phony issues, attacks and political pandering
were all rejected. Barack Obama is going to be the
Democratic Party nominee for President.

Change Has Already Begun

One of the 21,000 or so people who
attended the Obama speech in Indianapolis
Monday night took this photo in the nearby
park as she was on her way to get in line. Soon
we will be hearing about numbers, demographics,
delegates, spin, winners and losers in perceptions.
But I've been reading and hearing what many people
have said about what voting for Barack Obama in these
primaries means to them. Voting, seeing and hearing him
in itself has transformed lives. Children will remember this,
young people will remember how they felt. If Barack Obama
becomes President, there's every chance that someday he
will be favorably compared to our greatest Presidents. Lots
of people know that, and so for millions of people in Indiana
and North Carolina, this is going to be a special day. And
in them, and with them, change has already begun.

Here's part of what Barack Obama said in Indianapolis:

I was convinced that this was the moment that we had to break through from the old type of politics. And I believe that the American people want that.
If we keep on doing the same old things, in the same old ways -- having Washington just try to get by and get through the next election then we are betraying our children, our great grand children and that's not the kind of America I want to live in. I don't want to just win an election, I want to change the country and that's why you're here as well.

When all we're doing is arguing back and forth, who said what, then we are forgetting what this election is about. This campaign is about you. This about your voice, your dreams, your struggles and your aspirations. And when this country is focused on its hopes and its aspirations instead of its fears, then thats when we are going to be able to deliver on change for every American.

On the night before election day in Indiana and North Carolina, the number of individuals who have contributed to the Obama campaign passed one and a half million.

North Carolina, Indiana Vote Tuesday

As his support with Democratic Party leadership grows, including the former party chair who switched from Clinton to Obama and urged both super-delegates and his fellow citizens of Indiana to vote for Obama, Barack Obama goes before voters in two states tomorrow.

During weeks of attacks from the Clintons, McCain and their allies, and sustained media obsession with issues that voters say don't matter, Obama has made his case and honed his message in these states. He's rebounded in the national polls, but only the voters in North Carolina and Indiana can make the greatest statement: that they are tired of these distractions and divisions, they are ready to get behind their nominee, Barack Obama.

Here's his two minute closer ad. Here's his 30 minute closing argument in Indiana. Here's a more informal couple of minutes with Obama talking in practical terms about how he will continue to include the American people in making change in Washington.

And for Obama and Star Wars fans, here's a brief video summary of the adventure so far...