New political realities? Part two…
Just after posting the below, I came across this New York Times analysis of the Iowa presidential race:
I’ve been through election nights that brought a political earthquake to the country. I’ve never been through an election night that brought two.
He’s referring to the Huckabee win and the Obama win.
Concerning Obama…
This is a huge moment. It’s one of those times when a movement that seemed ethereal and idealistic became a reality and took on political substance.
Iowa won’t settle the race, but the rest of the primary season is going to be colored by the glow of this result. Whatever their political affiliations, Americans are going to feel good about the Obama victory, which is a story of youth, possibility and unity through diversity — the primordial themes of the American experience.
Obama has achieved something remarkable. At first blush, his speeches are abstract, secular sermons of personal uplift — filled with disquisitions on the nature of hope and the contours of change.
He talks about erasing old categories like red and blue (and implicitly, black and white) and replacing them with new categories, of which the most important are new and old. He seems at first more preoccupied with changing thinking than changing legislation.
About Huckabee…
Democrats talk about wages. But real middle-class families have more to fear economically from divorce than from a free trade pact. A person’s lifetime prospects will be threatened more by single parenting than by outsourcing. Huckabee understands that economic well-being is fused with social and moral well-being, and he talks about the inter-relationship in a way no other candidate has.
In that sense, Huckabee’s victory is not a step into the past. It opens up the way for a new coalition.
There is a glow affecting most of the media today, and the warmth and charm of it all has swept away the presence of large and looming issues that threaten the country from within and without. What will be most interesting in the weeks ahead is the inevitable confrontation these new visionaries have with serious global realities. The conversation has changed, and we’re listening.