THE LAST two minutes of Sen. Barack Obama's victory address in South Carolina made me think a generation was waking up. Rarely does a speaker interact so masterfully with his audience and rarely is an audience so genuinely joyful.
Something special happened in these last two minutes. Amid chants of "U-S-A" and "We want change," Obama leaned forward and, punctuating his words with his right hand, said the words, "Yes, we can." The crowd started to chant, "Yes, we can," over and over, with campaign signs aloft, feeding Obama's energy. "Yes, we can change ... Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can seize our future ... and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words: Yes. We. Can."
Sen. Obama's campaign is fundamentally about believing in an America that will earn and deserve respect again. It is not just about health care, economic justice, and a reasonable foreign policy, though it is certainly about all those things.Rather it is about the belief in and hope for a future where common goals can be worked for and common ground achieved. One that sees past the bitter partisanship that asks one-half of the country to shove policies down the throat of the other half. The contrast with the Clinton message is palpable. Where Obama seeks an attenuation of partisanship, the Clinton campaign, in its own words, aims for partisanship's "fulfillment."
This was an extremely important speech for Obama because his stunning victory in South Carolina guaranteed it would get more positive press coverage than any other event before the Super Tuesday primaries on February 5. Obama had several strategic goals to accomplish. First he needed desperately to avoid the narrative that his victory was entirely a function of race. He needed to escape from the box into which the Clinton campaign has tried to put him as the "black candidate." These efforts were highlighted earlier in the day by Bill Clinton's reminder to the press that Jesse Jackson had won South Carolina in the 1980's primaries. Second, he needed to respond to the Clintons' disingenuous criticisms of the past two weeks, such as his fondness for the ideas of Ronald Reagan. Third, he needed to argue that he can deliver change to the working class voters who will make up a large part of the Super Tuesday electorate. Fourth, and most profoundly, he needed to return his campaign back to his core message of hope for a new politics and a new governing majority.
He had good success on all counts, especially the last one. Obama managed to pivot his campaign message back to hope and change when the attention for the past two weeks has been on the divisions and racial tension within the party. Rather than picking a new fight, Obama decried the "forces that are not the fault of any one campaign, but feed the habits that prevent us from being who we want to be as a nation ... politics that tells us that we have to think, act, and even vote within the confines of the categories that supposedly define us."
While framing the primary contest and the 2008 general election as pitting the past versus the future, he referenced the content of the Clintons' attacks as old politics without mentioning their names. He referred to the partisanship he is fighting against as "the kind ... where you're not even allowed to say that a Republican had an idea -- even if it's one you never agreed with." He continued, "That kind of politics is bad for our party, it's bad for our country, and this is our chance to end it once and for all." This election, he said, is about "whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today." These words elevated the conversation while subtly criticizing the dishonest Clinton attacks the voters of South Carolina had just rebuked. He also lamented "the idea that it's acceptable to say anything and do anything to win an election."
This was a speech worth watching several times. If, and I believe when, Obama wins the presidency, this will be one of many of his speeches that will enter the Pantheon of American oratory. Watching the reciprocal energy build between Obama and the crowd as they rouse each other into belief gives us a glimpse at an America that we should seize. And, indeed, yes, we can.
Andrew Winerman's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at awinerman@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
CASTAGNO: Closing the Federal Executive Institute fails local residents
By Conall Costagno | 22 hours agoThe unwilling departure of the FEI from Charlottesville represents the severing of a constructive accord between the government and the University.
COHEN: Facing federal cuts, U.Va. must defend affordability
By Ryan Cohen | 2 days agoIn this uncertain environment, the University must act creatively and strategically to ensure it can maintain its commitment to affordability.
EDITORIAL: Commit to protecting noncitizens on Grounds
By Editorial Board | 3 days agoThis has grown into a pattern of failing the rights of noncitizens to due process and overstepping judicial checks and balances on the executive branch.
