THROUGH MY EYES

According to conventional wisdom or the general assumptions, there were a lot of reasons why Obama should not have won this election; a lot of reasons for him to have lost his focus, even before the primaries started. First and foremost was his skin color; then there was his name, which reminded everyone of his African roots; then there was his Arabic middle name. I suspect Obama knew all these things, but like he said during his convention speech in 2004, his parents gave him his name because they believed that in a tolerant America, a name is not a barrier to success. If an African could say that about America almost 50years ago, what excuse do African-Americans have not to succeed? You could argue that Obama’s father did not really understand America, but then I would ask this question, “Has he not been proven right 47years later?” The problem with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton’s candidacies was that they were running as the black candidates. Almost all their proposed policies had to do with making life better first for African-Americans and secondly for the whole country. Even though they did not actually put it in those words, that was the feeling I got from studying their policies. They failed to grasp the concept that to be elected President of the United States, the issues facing Americans should be the priority, not the issues facing a particular group of Americans, African-Americans or otherwise. That is not to say Obama or any other President should ignore or deny the fact that racial discrimination still exists, but rather to challenge victims of this kind of discrimination to rise above it and not allow it to become a stumbling block in their path to success. Obama knew that America did not need a candidate who reminded them of a past they wanted to forget. America needed a candidate to show what was right with America, not what was wrong with America. America needed a candidate to show how far America has come and how far America can go, not a candidate to show why America has not gone further. My belief is that Obama represented that hope for anyone who was ready to move on, whether they be black or white. Like Obama said in an interview during the primary season, “I’m rooted in the African-American community, but I am not defined by it”. I wrote in the introduction to this book, that asking if America is ready for a black President was the wrong question. The right question should be, “Is there a black person who is ready to be President?” A candidate who sees himself as an American leader and models his life and campaign on that premise, rather than a candidate who sees himself as a black leader before anything else. When Obama first decided he was going to run for President, some of his advisers were skeptical. Not that they did not think he was qualified or capable enough, but because they were not sure America was ready for a black President. But as he had done for most of his life, he challenged the assumption, because he knew something that only a few people knew at the time and that everyone now knows; America is color blind to excellence. Obama knew that if he could show Americans that he was the person best equipped to deal with the myriad challenges facing the country in the 2008 election cycle, his race would be the last thing on voters minds. He knew there would be those who would not vote for him because of his color, but he also knew that if he could show himself as the candidate who could change the direction the country was heading, such people would be in the minority. This at the time, sounded like a naïve idea, but I believe it was this idea that helped him build the large support base he was able to, including people who did not even like him! I remember reading about a woman in Pennsylvania who said she did not like Obama because she disagreed with him on a large number of issues and because she felt he was arrogant. But she also said that she would still vote for him because she believed he was the best available candidate to deal with the economic situation in the country. Obama ended up winning the election with over 69million votes (52.9%), to McCain’s 59million (45.7%). This margin was the largest ever by a non-incumbent US Presidential candidate and the sixth largest in US history. He needed 270 Electoral College votes to win, but ended up with 365, while John McCain ended up with 173. One interesting thing I noted though, was that John McCain was the first US Presidential candidate in history to get up to 59million votes and still lose the election. I’m not saying that to disparage John McCain in any way, but to point out the level of participation in the 2008 Presidential election. A lot has been said about the fact that a record number of African-Americans voted for Obama. Some have said, if so many African-Americans had not voted for him, he would not have won the election. That theory, I find quite ridiculous. Let me try to put that into perspective. In the 2008 elections, African-Americans made up 13% of the electorate, which was only 2% more than the number of African-Americans that voted in 2004, so first of all, the turnout was only slightly higher than it was in 2004. In 2008, even though 95% of African-Americans’ votes went to Obama, that could not have won win him the election. Even if the entire 13% had voted for him, it still would not have been enough. The statistic I find more intriguing is that 47% of the voters on November 4 were aged 40years old and below. Of this number, about 65% voted for Obama! His ability to inspire an entire generation was evident even before the primaries started, but the number of youths that turned out to vote for him was still amazing. It is even all the more amazing when you consider the fact that young people are usually the most cynical when it comes to politics. Obama’s relative youth and his appeal to the youths of America meant that his election victory was not only a change of direction in terms of policies, but also a generational change. At age 47, Obama is one of only 9 US Presidents who were less than 50years old when elected. Apart from his obvious charisma, I believe his youth was one of the reasons the youths of America were able to relate and respond to him they way they did. For those who were worried about the Bradley effect on election day, the reverse happened. A reverse Bradley effect. It turned out that thousands of people who had stated in opinion polls that they would vote for John McCain, ended up voting for Obama instead! Some analysts have dubbed this, “The Obama Effect”. From all this, it was obvious to me that when Americans saw Obama, they did not see a black man running for President. They saw a political genius, who was running for President and just happened to be black. Like the woman in Pennsylvania, all Americans wanted was a President who could lead them out of the condition the country was in and it did not matter if he was black, white, brown, blue or green. The question they asked was, “Can he do the job?” The answer, I think was a resounding yes. Or to quote a popular US politician, YES WE CAN! Or to strictly answer the question, YES HE CAN!