TO witness Barack Obama's victory speech last night in Des Moines,
Iowa, was to witness a moment pregnant with possibility and history.
About 2000 supporters applauded wildly or simply stared in awe at a
man whose rhetorical flourish rekindles the 1960s optimism of a new
kind of united America.
But while he might echo Martin Luther King, his message transcends the
civil rights campaigns of the troubled 1950s and 60s. Obama knows the
US has moved on. Instead, he talks to all Americans about their right
to things such as universal healthcare coverage and a middle-class tax
break.
Something happened in the US yesterday with this result. A black man
sweeping Iowa, where 95 per cent of its population is white and
socially conservative, is simply a breathtaking turning point in
UShistory.
There's no doubt that Obama can go on from here to become the next
president of the US - the first black man in the White House.
His win is significant for the Clinton campaign, which has held a
traditional lock on the African-American vote - at least until
yesterday. Black Americans had feared there was no way Obama could win
in a country still torn by racial strife.
Obama is not only likely to attract that base of Clinton's support, he
also has the potential to drive a huge turnout of the black vote in
the November presidential vote.
Obama's exotic history means the possibility of a US president
presenting a new face of America to the world. He grew up in Hawaii
and Indonesia; his father was a Muslim from Kenya, his mother a white
woman from Kansas; his middle name is Hussein.
"On this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have
done what the cynics said we couldn't do," Obama told his cheering
crowd.
"We are choosing hope over fear. We're choosing unity over division
and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America."
His win is a vindication of his strategy to champion generational
change and cleverly put Clinton on the defensive by saying that she
represents the Washington establishment.
Obama's dazzling speeches attract huge crowds - something he's been
doing ever since he burst into the national consciousness with a
typically soaring speech at the Democratic national convention in 2004
- and drew immediate comparisons with civil rights pioneer Martin
Luther King and Democratic icons John and Robert Kennedy.
"This was the moment when we finally beat back the policies of fear
and doubt and cynicism, the politics where we tear each other down
instead of lifting this country up," he said yesterday. "Years from
now, you'll look back and say that this was the moment ... America
remembered what it means to hope."
On Jan 5, 4:34 am, "AussieSeek Radio DJ Content Subscription service