SOMETIMES THE TREES do indeed block the view of the forest. And that certainly seems the case with the national punditry in their coverage of the Obama-Clinton fight. They’ve been so caught up in the round-by-round fisticuffs that they’ve failed to see that we have witnessed one of the titanic upsets in modern politics. Given all the advantages that Hillary started out with in this campaign, Obama’s pending coronation is, metaphorically speaking, on par with the great stunners the sports world has ever produced.
This was a long, bloody fight, which is perhaps one reason why it’s been easy for the perspective setters to lose sight of the broader, more remarkable, picture.
Choose your analogy. Ali over Foreman. Braddock over Baer.
Obama is THE Cinderella Man. And no one is talking about it.
This is truly an upset for the Ages.
Can you imagine the U.S. hockey team beating the Russians in 1980 and waking the next day to the standard old commentary about who scored what goal in what period?
It’s like the Miracle Mets of 1969 winning the World Series and the New York Times simply stating that the hometown team won the championship, while ignoring the fact they beat all the odds to get there.
If you thought the Giants knocking off the Patriots this past January was big, Obama is bigger.
This first-term U.S. Senator from a poor-mixed-race-divorced-household has defeated the biggest, most-moneyed Democratic political family this side of the Kennedys.
Consider the odds against him. The Clintons started with a ready-built organization, instant access to the deep pockets, massive name recognition, and chits galore to call in after nearly two decades on or near the national stage. There also was the fact there were two Clinton heavyweights on the campaign trail, not just one.
The party and the national pundits all but anointed Hillary the Democratic nominee 18 months ago.
And here we are today, Obama standing tall after a donnybrook of a battle and Clinton putting on a good face so she can come out for the ceremonial 15th round of action.
It’s all over. This is Cassius Clay beating Sonny Liston. It’s Joe Namath schooling the Baltimore Colts.
Yet few are taking note of that feat. For months now we’ve been fed a steady diet of "Why can’t Obama put her away?" and "Obama had his chance in New Hampshire" and "Obama didn’t close the deal in Ohio and Texas."
We’re talking a grassroots candidate –- as Obama’s PAC-free, $100-at-a-time donor base attests -– taking on a mammoth political machine with deep roots. Of course he didn’t deliver a knockout punch. No one could when facing the lopsided odds he was.
But he out-flanked her at most every turn. His campaign was nimble, hers was slow-footed. She had the great albatross of the ill-advised Iraq war vote strapped around her neck, and he had five years of speaking out against it.
He had a 50-state strategy to win the nomination, she had the arrogant approach -– an approach you only find with a contender who owns so many advantages –- that only a handful of early Primary states mattered.
She resorted to low-road attacks, he kept talking about change, hope and a vision for a better, more unified, tomorrow.
In this modern-day version of Rocky I, Balboa not only goes the distance with Creed, but wins the decision.
Yo Adrian!
And yet, the talking heads and columnists are still chatting up Xs and Os, ins and outs, moves and countermoves.
It’s time for the broader perspective. Barack Obama has engineered one of the great political upsets of American history. He took on and defeated the most powerful name on the Democratic side of the aisle over the last 20 years.
Stop the presses. Break out the 72-point font. This is a story every underdog, anywhere, should relish. It’s one that speaks to the tenacity and spirit of the man and the people who believe in him. It’s one that should leave John McCain very, very nervous.
It’s one that people should start talking about.