Like many readers here and throughout most of the political world, I was shocked by the way my own expectations, manufactured by the polls, the blogosphere, the punditocracy, and (honestly) my own hopes, were dashed tonight with Clinton's remarkable victory. Clinton appears to have made something happen in New Hampshire, but I must say that I will be very troubled if it can be determined that her too-publicized tear was the catalyst for her surmounting the polls' tolling her demise. The misogyny of the Chris Matthews of the punditocracy is not a firm foundation for continued victory in a tight race. And now, there will be no more tears; whether genuine or not, that card has been played.
And so, feeling the tug of despair that Hillary may have won "by any means necessary" (which I promptly reminded myself means she won "politically") I tuned into Obama's speech. Damn. He blew the roof off of that gym. And, then he used a line that may send his candidacy to a whole other level. Though a cliché, its simplicity and political brilliance could be game-changing. "Yes we can." Now, as soon as he said, "Yes we can," I shouted to the TV: "He's seriously going after the Latino vote!"
"Yes we can" on one side of the placard or billboard and "Sí se puede" on the other and you have a brown, black, and white national anthem. Evoking Cesar Chavez, Obama then rolls off how he's taking the campaign not only to South Carolina and Nevada but to California and beyond.
Is it possible that Obama effectively draws the Latino vote (as well as continuing to mine the Union vote) with a phrase? Perhaps not. But, having taken over the mantle of "Change" and forced all the other candidates in both parties to confront those six letters in a weekend, Obama may be moving to another level entirely not only articulating what people want ("Change") but declaring that we the people can bring it about ("Yes we can/Sí se puede"). Clinton may continue to try to argue that Obama's call for change is content-less. (Policy details have been articulated and before this over we can be sure that we will be inundated with their minutia.) But at this level of a campaign now truly going national (and global in a very real way), Obama's echoing of Cesar Chavez speaks not of desperation but as the laying of a groundwork to do what he actually says in terms of truly bringing many different communities together in a genuine national movement. Time will tell, but this seems a brilliant political gambit that may ultimately be more strategically effective than Dean's scream or Clinton's tear.