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Barack Obama Makes History
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Black Pioneers in Politics
Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech November 4 2008
Race in US Political Primaries
Obama Voters
Americans made a statement in its election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States of America. They proved to themselves and the world that they believe the ideal outlined in the U.S. constitution, that "all men are created equal."
Who Voted for Obama
President-elect Barack Obama
A perfect storm of political good fortune swirled around Barack Obama. He was a virtually unknown Illinois state politician five years before the 2008 presidential election. That was such a meteoric rise to power that it sounds like a Disney movie. Obama ran for president at a difficult time for America. The incumbent president was incredibly unpopular, the U.S. was engaged in two wars and the economy was in crisis. Obama was also an ideal candidate. He made no major mistakes, performed well under pressure and had an incredibly efficient campaign staff. Future candidates will study Obama's campaign as a model of perfection.
First Black President
Obama was the first candidate for president to draw his support directly from the masses. He used the Internet to raise money to a degree that no one had before. He ended up with the most campaign funds in history and he was not beholding to large donating lobbyists. He was beholding to the people. The McCain campaign drew largely on the old election model. They were slow to respond to the power of the Internet. This lost McCain money and young computer savvy voters.
Barack Obama did not just beat John McCain,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], he dominated him. Obama comfortably won all the traditional Democratic leaning states and made deep inroads into traditional Republican strongholds. Obama won Virginia, Nevada,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Colorado and New Mexico. All these states went to George W. Bush in 2004. Obama also swept all the battleground states that McCain needed to win. Obama took Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Florida.
Obama Victory
Obama did not just win, he won big. He won huge with all sorts of people from every corner of the United States. Many will see this as a mandate for change. This is not just a change in political leadership. It is also a change in attitudes, beliefs and power. The entire world sees the American President as a black man. That says more for racial equality than any words could ever convey.
Obama got 95% of the African American vote. However,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], that was just a tiny fraction of his support. Obama also won 66% of the Latino vote,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], 66% of voters under 30 years old and 68% of newly registered voters. He also got huge support from groups John McCain was relying on. 43% of white voters and 78% of Jewish voters cast ballots for Barack Obama.
Regardless of all these factors, history will likely remember Barack Obama primarily as the first Black President. This is both good and bad. The milestone is monumental and should be recognized. However, Obama is as much white as he is black. That should be recognized too. Voters from all over America elected him and he will be the president for an increasingly color blind America. This is an historic achievement that has Americans telling their children to remember election day 2008. They will be telling their grandchildren about it.