Senator Barack Obama may turned out to be the dream candidate
A.H. Jaffor Ullah
Read the article from MM site :
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/jaffor/obama050208.htm
I have always supported the Democratic Ticket in all presidential elections held in America. When I first came to America in 1969, 'Tricky Dick' (Richard M. Nixon) was the president who took office in late January 1969. Nixon, a Republican politician who served as the vice president for President Dwight D. Eisenhower for 8 years, was at the helm. He promised during the campaign all throughout 1968 that he would pull out troops from Vietnam once he becomes the president. This is the promise that he reneged. His evil counsel, Henry Kissinger, engineered the proliferation of Vietnam War to neighboring countries such as Laos and Cambodia. In 1972, the Democrats put forth the candidacy of Senator George McGovern, a liberal candidate, who promised to end the war in Vietnam. However, he was soundly defeated by Richard Nixon. But Nixon paid very dearly for bugging the Watergate Complex office of McGovern's election headquarters.
I never liked even one Republican candidate who ran for the White House. The first time I was allowed to vote in presidential election, it was 1984 when Ronald Reagan was reelected; this time the Democrat had nominated Vice President Walter Mondale, a descent man. But Reagan was immensely popular then for whatever reasons not quite understood by me. Reagan's 8 years in office resulted in huge budget deficit. He promised to make the federal government a small one but ended up making it a big one.
America had the choice to elect another descent human being, Governor Michael Dukakis, in 1988 but the nation elected George H.W. Bush instead. Dukakis was a victim of vile campaign attack. George W. Bush knew how to scare people and he did that with negative campaign. Bush's 4 years in office was uneventful and was plagued with savings and loan scandal. In 1992 Americans elected Bill Clinton. Thanks to the Third party candidate, Russ Perot, who stole enough votes from Bush to help Bill Clinton win the election.
In 2000, George W. Bush received the nomination from Republican Party and ran against Vice President Al Gore. Even though Gore received more popular votes, he lost the election to Bush. Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court that did not allow the recounting of votes in Florida.
George W. Bush's presidency is mired in Iraq War, a misadventure totally based on false intelligence gathering. The Islamic terrorists did a favor to Mr. Bush in 2001 when they hijacked four passenger airlines and rammed two of them against the World Trade Center killing nearly 3000 innocent civilians. Mr. Bush took the opportunity to send troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. The rest is history. Bush who inherited a healthy economy with budget surplus transformed the nation's economy into a sick one. With gas price escalating and economy shrinking, the nation plunged into a recession in late 2007. As of this writing, the Federal Reserve cut down the interest rate three times to revive the anemic economy. No one is certain how severe the recession would be and when the economy would turn around. Under this dire backdrop the two parties, Democratic and Republican, are selecting their candidate. I will not address the Republican race in this article. Let me stay focus with the Democratic Party's choice for the candidate who very probably will run in November against Senator John McCain who looks like would become the torchbearer of the Grand Ol' Party.
Senator Obama is a freshman legislator from Illinois who gave a fiery speech in the summer of 2004 at the Democratic Convention when Senator John Kerry became the party's candidate to run against George W. Bush. Barack Obama was elected as the senator from Illinois in the same year. Later he was sworn in 2005. He quickly established himself to be an effective legislator while learning the inner workings of Washington.
Barack Obama decided to run for the office of U.S. President two years after he became the senator. However, the field was very crowded as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, senator from New York and ex-First lady, Senator John Edwards, Governor Bill Richardson, and Congressman Dennis Kucinich all vying for the grand prize, i.e. to receive the party's nomination. Once the primaries get going the field was narrowed down to two candidates. Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama were competing against each other for the party's nomination. Both the candidates have received millions of dollars as donations. On Super Tuesday, February 5, 2008, democrats living in 20 states will vote in the primaries and the polling results will give us an idea who might get the party's nomination in the summer of 2008 when the delegates will convene to choose their candidate.
Earlier polls have indicated that Senator Hillary Clinton was leading Obama by single digit percentage points but a day before the Super Tuesday the race was tightening. Indications are that Obama may win in few populous states and so will Senator Hillary Clinton.
Senator Obama received the head start when he won the contest in Iowa but he came up second in New Hampshire next to Senator Clinton. But in South Carolina Senator Clinton was soundly defeated in late January 2008. President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea campaigned extensively in South Carolina, which has many African American electorates. Unfortunately, President Bill Clinton injected racism into the campaign and for that he was reprimanded by many senior Democrats, and civil rights leaders. On Martin Luther King holiday the Clintons made some controversial comments telling the Americans that it was President Johnson who was instrumental in enacting the civil rights laws. The contributions of the slain civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, in mobilizing the public opinion for changing the laws were underplayed by the Clintons. This unfortunate development greatly displeased many liberal Americans. Suddenly, we witnessed that racism was brought into the primaries by Clinton camp. In my humble opinion this unfortunate development coupled with president Bill Clinton's unbridled remarks in South Carolina have cost Senator Clinton some votes. Soon she realized that a mistake was made.
On January 31, 2008 both Obama and Clinton participated in a very civil debate where they complimented each other and refrained from making barbed comments against one another. However, Senator Obama boldly made the assertion that while Senator Clinton went along with Bush's decision to invade Iraq, he opposed the decision. Clearly, Obama wanted to establish himself as the anti-war candidate.
Senator Obama's campaign speech had energized many Americans especially the young college kids when he portrayed him as the agent of change that America needs so desperately. Many people saw the reflection in him of President John F. Kennedy while others saw reflection of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Senator Obama is a gifted orator, undoubtedly. His message is getting through to the electorates. Many people consequently opened their purse. One thing Obama campaign does not lack is money. It is the testament that many Americans liked his views on myriad topics such as healthcare reform, doing away with the evil influence of corporations in politics, a drastic change in foreign policy including bringing back troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Americans who aspire to see a change in their nation is supporting Senator Obama. They say that Senator Clinton represents old politics, which include the influence of special interest. It will be interesting to see if Obama's candidacy catches fire. One thing is for sure. President Kennedy's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, her cousin, Maria Shriver, and the slain president's youngest brother, Senator Edward Kennedy all had thrown their weights behind Senator Obama. This is unprecedented and the like of which have never seen before. This has made the Clintons very unhappy. But life goes on as usual. Soon we will know whether Obama will become that dream candidate who will have the support of the majority electorates. Therefore, stay tuned.
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A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA
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