Obamaï¿½s tryst with destiny at Denver A.H. Jaffor Ullah

Obamaï¿½s tryst with destiny at Denver

Published on August 30, 2008

Senator Obama is no longer the ï¿½presumptiveï¿½ nominee of his party for the highest office in the land. After affirmation by proclamation, he facilely won the nomination; there werenï¿½t any fight from any rival faction. This happened on the third night (August 27, 2008). The jubilant candidate for White House made a surprise appearance before delegates in the Pepsi Center (an indoor sports arena) when he invited everyone to get ticket for Invesco Field (an outdoor sports arena) where he gave a historic acceptance speech before 84,000 Americans.

The famous speech had spellbound not only the delegates and attendees at the venue but many newscasters, political talking heads and pundits such as David Gergen, John King, etc., had opined that it was truly a historic speech by any measure.

Senator Obama had re-introduced himself to Americans through this speech, which lasted about 50 minutes. It was a defining moment for Obama, son of a Kenyan and a Midwestern woman. Through the acceptance speech, he rebutted quite a few allegations leveled by the McCain campaign. The issue of Obamaï¿½s inexperience for the highest job in the land, lack of foreign policy experience, the celebrity-like status, etc, and more were answered by Obama to dispel any doubts about his qualification to become the commander-in-chief or for that matter, taking the emergency call at 3:00 am.

Obama spoke eloquently before the crowd and national audiences through the airwaves. He looked quite dignified and presidential; not to mention his utmost confidence in him. The speech was a reminiscence of the one given about 40 years ago by Reverend martin Luther King Jr. at Washington DC in a civil rights protest march. In fact Obama concluded his speech by borrowing phrases from M. L. Kingï¿½s speech.

Most political observers in America said during the convention that Obama had a huge task of unifying the Democratic base, which was shattered by lengthy and divisive primaries. Furthermore, he had to present a memorable acceptance speech, which he gave. Now, there is no question in the minds of millions about his qualification to become the president of this powerful nation on earth.

In a true sense destiny had brought Obama to national politics. As a fresh lawyer just graduated from Harvard he joined a movement to rehabilitate displaced workers in the late 1980s in south side of Chicago. Stunned by his capability to organize movement many, Illinois people asked him to join the state politics. He however took time out to teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago and in late 1990s he immersed in the state politics to find himself elected to the state legislature. Springfield, the capital of Illinois is located in the middle of cornfield, became his home for few years when he learned and honed the art of persuasion quite well.

In 2004, during the Democratic convention at Boston where Senator Kerry was nominated to run against George Bush, the party selected an unknown legislator from Springfield, Illinois to give the keynote speech. His name was a strange one and no one was familiar with him. Nonetheless, he gave an electrifying speech. After which he became right away a star in the Democratic Party. Obama ran for the senate seat from Illinois and was elected in November 2004.

As a young senator he quickly learned that Washington was a place where senators and congressmen play a partisan game to the detriment of the nation. By defying the norm he started mingle with legislators from the other side of the aisle. Bipartisanism became his mantra at the senate. Obama could hardly get a senior position in the myriads of exclusive committees those that oversee many branches of the government. But that hardly deterred him from getting the visibility.

Obamaï¿½s political future took a quantum leap in 2007 when to the surprise of many he announced that he would run in the primaries that was already crowded with nationally known Democrats. Many political pundits had pooh-poohed him for becoming that ambitious being merely a political neophyte. Come to think of it, I donï¿½t think that it hardly crossed Senator Hillary Clintonï¿½s mind that this obscure and junior legislator from Illinois could through a hardball in her ambition to receive the nomination of her party further down the road.

In actuality, the farmers and most ordinary people of Iowa had catapulted Barack of Obama to presidential politics in January 2008 when he won decisively in the primaries in Iowa in which Senator Clinton came out the third. Suddenly, Obamaï¿½s campaign caught fire while his message resonated with the voters allover America. What followed next is known to everyone. To put it mildly, Obama is a political phenomenon the like of which was never seen before!

The events of last few weeks did not bode well for Obama campaign. And thanks to John McCainï¿½s negative campaign. Consequently, Senator Obama came to Denver all bruised. First, it was Senator Hillary Clintonï¿½s campaign that hurled all kinds of epithets to characterize him as an inexperienced first time senator who is not fit to be the president of this great nation. Then once he secured enough delegates to lock the nomination, the McCain campaign started in earnest a fusillade of negative Ads. They borrowed lines from Clintonï¿½s negative Ads, made them caustic and bitter and aired them in the battleground states. When Obama visited Europe, Middle East in the summer of 2008 to meet the heads of states, he chanced to give speech in a soccer stadium in Berlin. It was a feat that John McCain could hardly repeat. Thus, to belittle Obama, the McCain campaign had coined the term ï¿½world class celebrityï¿½ to stick it on Obama. And that was not all. The democratic presidential hopeful was compared with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, the two most sought after celebrity by the National Enquirer, which is a popular gossip magazine in America. Unfortunately, McCainï¿½s mischaracterization of Obama had backfired. In polls after polls, Obama came out a few percentages ahead and that is causing a concern in the minds of Republican operatives such as Karl Rove.

Finally, the last week of August arrived and Democrats assembled in Denver to give their seal of approval to Obama to recapture White House after 8 years when Bill Clinton left the catbird seat power with a strong economy, a reasonable peace throughout the world, and a huge budget surplus.

Barack Obama's DNC Acceptance Speech:

Part-1

Part-2

Part-3

Part-4

Part-5

Part-6

All attentions of the media were on Democratic convention, which ran very smoothly. Some political talking heads and a few Republican operatives thought the convention would be mired in utter chaos and floor fight a la 1968 convention held in Chicago in the height of the Vietnam War. The Democratic nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, was bruised by all the street protestation and floor fight. The result was a divided Democratic Party; consequently, VP Humphrey lost the election to Richard M. Nixon in 1968.

The Democrats did not wish for a return of 1968-like convention. Rather they wanted a unified front to energize the campaign this year. The Clintons were very cooperative in this respect. All the fences were mended and both Bill and Hillary Clinton gave excellent and uplifting speeches at the convention to efface any sign of discord and division. At the end, the party was unified to the satisfaction of Obama campaign.

In a way, Senator Barack Obama had a tryst with destiny in Denver. His journey to politics got underway in 1997 and in a short span of 11 years he received the nomination of his party to run for the highest office. His candidacy is unique in the sense that he does not quite fit the description of a politician who runs for the coveted position. Thus far, all the presidents were male and white. Are Americans ready to elect a minority? Stay tuned for the answer. In about 67 days Americans would go to polling places to elect a new president. The collective judgment will surely come.

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Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA