Media outlets are talking about a lot of liberal and Democratic unease as we count down the hours to the closing of the polls on Tuesday. Are the leads in the polls real? Is it actually going well? Is Barack Obama the guy who is finally going to close the deal for the Democratic party?
There are a few thoughts that I like to keep close that help me keep an even keel. First off, the Obama campaign has taken the notion that elections are won on the ground to heart. Democrats have too long relied on surrogates like labor unions to turn out votes. The New York Times ran an article a few weeks back about Obama field operatives trying to find voters in Elko, NV. I've been to Elko, NV. I doubt that there is a more Republican place on Earth. Secondly, Barack Obama is a surprisingly tough, disciplined fighter. He won the primary election for his Illinois Senate seat by getting all of his opponents voter petitions disallowed for signature irregularities. He was discounted by "big media" pundits at every turn; he was too black or not black enough, he couldn't raise enough money with Internet donations, he was too weak and too intellectual to take the fight to John McCain. Yet, here he is, days before the election, ahead in the polls.
True, he's not "the Empathizer in Chief" on the campaign trail the way Bill Clinton was... but as Bill Clinton said recently at a campaign rally "during the recent [financial] crisis, Barack Obama called his own people, called my people, and called me and said 'Tell me what the right thing to do is, and I'll figure out how to sell it.'" That is definitely something we need in the tough times ahead.
Am I uncertain? Yes, but I've been uncertain since I voted for Barack Obama in the primary several months ago. He's been in more than a few tight spots since then, and that's had me worried at various points. But he's proven several times that he's smart, he's tough, and he's got good people who know what they are doing. If anyone call pull this out and win (big!) on Tuesday, it's him.
said drgeek
on 2008-11-01 at 7:59 p.m.
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