The Bolt of Lightening Democrats Hoped For?

Invoking the moniker and legend of a man named Lincoln; Barack Obama announced his candidacy for president on Saturday in Springfield, Illinois in front of the “Old State Capitol” where the ghost of Lincoln still saunters to this day. Obama served 7 years in the General Assembly before his “prolific” rise to the U.S. Senate and fame, so why not attempt to illustrate the point even more so than by rousing up images of one of the nation’s greatest presidents? The irony between his speech and Lincoln is somewhat amusing, as Obama plans to run his campaign based on two themes, progressiveness and unity. History has shown us that these two ideologies do not mix well in politics, especially during the time of Lincoln (the whole Civil War thing). At some point and time one of these ideas will have to be sacrificed, as the status quo will remain in Washington D.C (even though he wants to change all of that).

Obama is on the verge of toppling over his own two feet at this current juncture in the campaign and it is only the beginning. There is no doubt that as the campaign revs its engines up, Obama will become rather well known throughout the nation and the world. But from what I have discerned from what Obama stands for, I am unsure of what he really stands for. Yes, he rouses up recollections of John F. Kennedy, as he is young (as far as presidential races are concerned), he has a young family, and is progressive, which is why the Democratic Party is absolutely crazy over him. Obama is in essence a well packaged candidate from a political science point of view. But in a race that will have to focus on policy, does Obama have the right ideas? The trouble with the presidential election gearing up so soon is that candidates are not able to show all of their cards at once; they have to wait.

Chicago progressives are worried that Obama has jettisoned his “prophetic” candor in favor for a normal politician; he has gone Hollywood. Opponents will be fast to point out that he won his Senate seat by default because the GOP could not find an admirable contender (Alan Keyes was the best that they could do). Other would say that he deserved the seat. Obama even stated that he would finish out his term in the Senate, but obviously that has gone down the tubes. An article in The Nation described Obama as “so fucking coy,” which reins true at this current moment. Besides garnering the primary votes of Democrats, he has to deal with Hillary Clinton and others. Democrats are renowned for trying to “out-left” each other during primary season, which in this case may not be a pretty staff meeting in the “going negative department.”

The primary debates are to occur in mid-April and I believe that by then both Democrats and Republicans will have a firmer idea of whom they want to support. Up until that time it is going to be a guessing game with most of the candidates. Lincoln once gave the infamous “house divided” speech on the very steps of where Obama stood on Saturday (it kicked off his presidential campaign in 1858) and it is fair to say that our government is divided at the current time. But the real question(s) for Obama is simple, how divided is the Democratic Party and low will the candidates go in order to secure the nomination? Obama wants to fix Washington, we know that, but that is going to be easier said than done; just ask Lincoln.