Thinking About It
October 24, 2006
Barack may be in but Mark is out. While Senator Obama is the hot topic at the moment in the 2008 presidential race former Virginia Governor Warner, who looked like a candidate, has taken his name out of contention.
All of a sudden, the Democratic contest has a new personality. Illinois Senator Obama, who has been on a tour promoting his second book The Audacity of Hope, announced on “Meet The Press” on Sunday that he was considering a run for president in 2008.
Obama, who is on the cover of Time Magazine, and on all the television talk shows, is the Democrats man of the hour.
Several months ago, former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, who graced the cover of the New York Times Sunday Magazine, was being mentioned as the best alternative to New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton. Warner had the credentials as the centrist Southern governor who could win a general election. The wealthy high tech businessman, however, said he would not run for president in 2008 citing the effect it would have on his family.
It was a smart move on the part of Warner. He can now speak out and move about the country helping other Democrats. And, he will be courted by almost all the other Democratic presidential candidates as the perfect running mate to balance the ticket. Warner, 51, is young enough to try again in 2012 if he isn’t elected vice-president on a Democratic ticket in 2008. He will have time to study up on foreign policy and build up that part of his resume for a future run. While it may not seem so today Warner may actually be on the 2008 ticket as the vice-presidential nominee. How about the possibility of an Obama-Warner ticket?
Speaking of Senator Obama, he is being compared to John F. Kennedy when he decided to run for president in 1960. However, Obama is only in the second year of his first term in the United States Senate whereas Kennedy was in his second term in the Senate. He also had been a congressman and had already tried to be the vice-presidential nominee of his party in 1956.
Although the Illinois Democrat’s political resume is slim, he is wowing the crowds around the country and energizing the Democratic base. He is certainly causing a sensation within the Democratic Party: he is the hot rock star of the moment.
The question will be: Do the Democrats really want to nominate an untested first term senator for the nation’s highest office? Can the former editor of the Harvard Law Review become the first African-American nominee for president? Can Obama’s magnetic personality overcome his lack of experience in foreign policy and in the national political arena? Does Obama know what he is getting into or is he and his staff caught up in the moment of positive press coverage which will end as soon as he would announce he was a candidate for president?
The dynamics of the Democratic contest will be changed by an Obama candidacy. The near certainty that many political analysts have [not my view] that New York Senator and former First Lady will be the Democratic nominee for president is now put in doubt by the popularity of Barack Obama.
Unlike Senator Clinton, the former Illinois state senator who only received his law degree in 1992, has very little baggage or controversy associated with his candidacy.
He is a clean slate. He is a fresh face. He is definitely the man of the hour. He is a man with a sense of humor who is appealing to an audience of Americans – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – who are hungering for a hero in these very difficult times.
Remember that Mark Warner was the man of the hour only several months ago. Moods, opinions and attitudes change quickly in politics.
The Illinois senator, instead of being compared to JFK in his congressional career before running for president, could better be compared to another politician from Illinois who became president after only one term in Congress – Abraham Lincoln. Obviously, I am not comparing Obama at this early stage of his career to one of America’s greatest presidents. I am just pointing out that, in an earlier time in our history, the lack of a long political résumé certainly did not hurt Lincoln winning the presidency.
Obama, author of Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, is the one presidential candidate in 2008, who has the charisma to really shake things up and make the contest very historic and quite interesting.
The hype and publicity will eventually go away and the time for substance on the issues will begin but for now Obama is the rock star of the Democratic Party. Robert J. Guttman
Director, CPFR Click here to return to the Thinking About It archive.
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