Sunday, June 01, 2008

How Barack beat Hillary

If, like me, you've been following the Democratic race in the US, but not closely enough to understand every last detail, this is a great article that helps analyze how Barack got to where he is right now, essentially the Democratic nominee, while Hillary went from the assumed winner to second place. Enjoy.

1 comment:

- K said...

That was a really good article; thanks for posting it. I have two comments on it, though:

1. I think that the writers underestimate the importance of Iowa in this primary. Granted, "Super Tuesday" was important; however, thinking back to January, I think winning Iowa was the first clear evidence that Obama was a credible candidate. Had he lost there, I don't know if he could have gained the momentum he needed, in terms of votes and fundraising, to eventually beat Clinton. In particular, and somewhat ironically, the African American vote only really started to turn Obama's way when he proved he could win in an almost entirely white state.

2. There is no mention of the impact of the issues, especially the Iraq war. This goes farther back than the election season. Here's my question: had Clinton voted against the war back in 2002, would Obama have had such strong grounds on which to claim that he was the true candidate of change? I think, had Clinton demonstrated courage and good judgment back then (or, perhaps, had she apologized for her mistake during the primary season), she would have been the nominee today.