The Democratic primaries and caucuses have brought out huge numbers of voters. In some races, the winner of the Democratic primary received more votes than all the Republican candidates combined. It's true that Republicans and Independents are making up some of that huge number in states where they are allowed to vote in the Democratic primary, but these voters alone aren't enough to account for the huge numbers.
Certainly the presence of the first viable woman candidate is bringing out many voters, especially women, but the candidate who is accounting for most of the excitement, according to the media and reports from the voters themselves, is Barack Obama. Obama is almost single-handledly creating a new generation of excited and involved Democratic voters and because of this the Democratic Party and indeed all loyal Democrats must be forever in his debt. No candidate in decades has created this much excitement and given so many young people the desire to participate in the democratic process.
Hillary Clinton is currently attacking Obama because he gives good speeches, while she offers "solutions." Of course, Obama offers solutions, too, but Clinton must draw a false contrast because she can't offer inspiring speeches.
The job of a good candidate, it seems to me, is to offer solutions as well as speeches, to offer ideas as well inspiration. Hillary is limited in how much she inspires. In fact, she depresses almost as much as she inspires. Part of that is her fault and part isn't, but it doesn't matter. She is who she is and the danger in having her as the nominee is that all the inspiration that has been infused into the young electorate is liable to vanish.
One thing that I look for in a candidate is what they do when they are losing, when they are no longer the frontrunner. Are they gracious, while they continue on with their campaign, or do they get desperate and turn ugly? When Obama was behind, which has been for much of the race, he did not go negative. He did not refer to Clinton's gender, as her husband referred to his race, and he did not play "gotcha." There are so many things Obama could bring up if he wanted to go negative on Hillary, including her husband's impeachment, but he has never gone there. He talks about policy differences, and brings up her vote for the war, but he doesn't hammer her over the head with them or attack her character.
This week, Hillary went after Obama because he wouldn't agree to a debate before the Wisconsin primary, even though there have already been eighteen debates. Her husband attacked Obama's health care plan (I don't recall Michelle Obama attacking Hillary's plan) for not being "universal" while Hillary had to admit that to achieve universality her plan might have to garnish wages of indivduals.
Besides going negative, Hillary's team is trying to overturn the rule that everyone agreed to - that the Michigan and Florida contests would not count. And her campaign is openly admitting that even if she loses the popular vote and the pledged delegate vote, she will attempt to overturn the will of the people by appealing to superdelegates.
This reminds me so much of the tactics of Bush that it discredits Hillary in the eyes of many voters. She may be smart, wonkish, organized, and "ready to lead" on day one, but she is also ready to do anything to win. And we have had enough of that with Bush.
This time around, we not only want to win, we want to win with dignity. This time around, we want to be able to trust our president, as well as be inspired by him.
We want our country back. Not the country that the Clintons or the Bushes create for their own aggrandizement, but our country, that country that is of the people, by the people and for the people. For the first time in many campaigns, we have a candidate who can give us back our country, and move us past Bill Clinton's misbehavior and George Bush's criminality, and that is why so many people are voting for Barack Obama.
