Ill. senator suited to lead U.S. into futureMay 16, 2008
Voters are feeling bruised and conflicted as a long, grueling battle for the Democratic presidential nomination comes down to the wire.
So, before Kentuckians go to the polls Tuesday in one of the last primaries, let's just pause to savor this moment in history: For the first time in 232 years of nationhood, an African-American or a woman will lead a presidential ticket.
That alone makes this election a hopeful turning point.
The opportunity for national renewal will be even greater if, as appears almost certain, Sen. Barack Obama is the nominee.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has waged a tough campaign. Her experience and mastery of the challenges facing the next president are impressive. So is her ability to connect with voters. She has emerged as a political force in her own right, outside the orbit of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Both Democrats are more than qualified to be president.
But while Clinton is an adept practitioner of politics as we know it, Obama is offering something new. He makes a convincing case that he can lead this country without sowing fear and dividing people, the cynical ploys of a political era that has run out of steam.
Obama has given voice to a widespread yearning not just for a changing of the guard but for a changing of the game. And that ability to express a people's aspirations is a mark of leadership.
Like President John F. Kennedy, another senator who electrified young people, Obama also has the substance to transform idealism into action.
The current storyline that he is an elitist who doesn't identify with the struggles of average people is absurd. His is a classic rags-to-riches story in the finest tradition of the American dream. He was still paying off his college loans until a few years ago.
It's worth remembering that Kennedy's Catholicism seemed as large an obstacle to popular acceptance in 1960 as Obama's biracialism today. Our endorsement of Obama is also a statement of our faith in the electorate to look deeper than skin tone.
It's disappointing that we haven't seen more of Obama in Kentucky, and more important, that he hasn't seen Kentucky beyond Louisville and Lexington.
This primary campaign has revealed a gap in his support, one that will be evident in Kentucky on Tuesday, as lower-income, less-educated, older and rural white voters line up behind Clinton.
Obama needs to better connect with these voters and learn about their concerns, if not to win, then to govern in the unifying way that he has promised.
Americans in huge numbers are fed up with an economy built on reckless borrowing, tax policies that favor the richest few, a bellicose and aimless foreign policy and an unnecessary war that has been incalculably costly.
Obama and Clinton both promise an exit from Iraq, though not precipitously. But only Obama called the war a mistake from the start.
On most issues, Clinton and Obama have few differences. Clinton's plan for covering the health care of all Americans is more comprehensive.
But Obama has shown a greater willingness to tell the truth about the choices confronting us. Case in point: the proposed gas-tax holiday. (Clinton, at least, would pay for it with a windfall profits tax on oil. Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain's support for suspending the federal gas tax is pure unfunded pander.)
This country will have to face up to some hard truths, especially about our energy policy, to get back on course. But never underestimate the ingenuity and power of the American people.
Obama is uniquely suited to lay out the challenges, reignite this country's can-do spirit and lead us into a better future.
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