I am an Obama supporter (and even a low-level district delegate in WA State). But I am also a Democrat and I'll get behind Senator Clinton if she ends up with the nomination. I am writing this diary to discuss the concept of inevitability, and how it turned me against Clinton and towards Obama.
The story has always been that Barack Obama can't do it. He's always been the underdog. Perhaps it's more fun to be the underdog, perhaps it's more of a challenge. It's the chase that's fun after all, isn't it?
I always felt that I didn't need to get to know Senator Clinton because she was inevitably going to be our nominee; listening to her would be a waste of time. Whatever she said would simply be interesting academically, it wouldn't actually matter in terms of her winning or losing the nomination, because as the wisdom held it, she had it sewn up; any challengers would be cast aside easily and quickly once the full force of Clinton's "machine" and money were brought to bear.
I remember a very brief period when there was some kind of deadline approaching (perhaps to put an exploratory committee together, or fund raising or something...) and the big question was "Is Barack Going to Run?" I truly thought he wouldn't. I truly thought he wouldn't stand a chance.
When he announced, I did not immediately jump to him, either. In fact, I spent the fist few months telling all my friends not to trash talk Hillary because she would be our nominee, and I didn't want a repeat of what happened to Gore in 2000.
And in the straw polls on this website I voted for Edwards up until just a few months ago.
And then something interesting happened: Obama won Iowa. And with that victory, Obama took from Hillary the only thing she had hold of me with--the aura of inevitability. Because, I repeat, there was no reason to study the inevitable, no reason to get excited, no reason to be aroused in any way. And so whatever glimmer of allegiance I had to Senator Clinton evaporated that night. From them on, I decided she'd have to fight for my attention, my respect, my interest.
But in all honesty, I wasn't really listening. I was far more interested at this point in seeing if Obama could keep winning--and then he did.
I don't think it's inevitable that Obama will win the nomination, but I think Hillary is now the underdog. And I think that this is a better place for the party to be than having only one choice.
I suppose one question would be this: Did Hillary cultivate the aura of inevitability early on, or was this solely the media's doing? Is my case unique or do other people share this sentiment?