A Mahatma Gandhi quote sums up Barack Obamas' campaign for POTUS in a very unique way, at least I find it intriguing. Anyway, the quote goes like this;
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you and then you win".
I think this illustrates just how Barack came from being a virtual unknown to a legitimate contender and now the eventual nominee.
As I go through each segment of the quote, feel free to take a stroll down memory lane, back to when Barack first announced his candidacy for president. Warning: this maybe painful for some Hillary supporters to read but it isn't meant as an attack on you or your candidate, just a way for us look at where Barack came from, the odds he faced, to where he is now and where we hope he will be.
Ok, here we go. First they, (Hillary, her constituents and the media), ignored Barack. Afterall, why pay attention to someone you deem as a non-threat. He was an unknown compared to her being a household name. She also, at the time, had more money than him (a whopping $100 million), she had the "Clinton" name brand, she had the Democratic machine behind her and she was the media darling. Having all this enabled Hillary to run as the inevitable nominee, so there was no reason at this point to be concerned about Barack. The media also ignored Barack, acknowledging him in passing as the "young Senator who gave an inspiring speech at the previous convention". Hillary, as the incumbent with the "experience, had all of the advantages. Because he was virtually unknown, Hillary had no reason to believe he would morph and inspire a movement that would eventually lead to the ouster of her from the race. In the midst of her ignoring Barack, she was so confident of a win that she predicted that this would be over on February 5,oops, it was even at this time that she acknowledged that Michigan and Florida would not count, in contrary to what she is saying now, and I would also like to point out that she was receiving 65% of black support, because blacks weren't so sure he could run against Hillary. All of this is attributable to her air of "inevitability". Fatal mistake, as we are now witnessing the results of taking Barack for granted and ignoring his abilities to organize a machine that has morphed into what it is today.
Moving right along to the first primaries in Iowa, NH, and SC we come to the next part of the quote, "Then they ridicule you". This is exactly what happened after he won Iowa and South Carolina. They ridiculed his experience, they ridiculed his message of hope, they painted him as the "black" candidate who would not and could not win the nomination, he has not been vetted and lastly but not the least they questioned his motives for running "now", which he so eloquently retorted with a quote by MLK "because of the fierce urgency of now".
Next, "Then they fight you". Boy oh boy is this an understatement. Not only is he fighting Hillary for the Democratic nominee, but he's also fighting McCain, the former President, and the Republican machine. That, to me, puts Barack at a major disadvantage, so it seemed. Not to mention the media's participation in the circus that would become the Wright controversy. In their desperation to smear Barack and take the shine off of him, the words of others were used to condemn and for those voters who couldn't, up to this point, find anything to dislike Barack, the fiery words of Wright, not Barack, gave them a reason. Furthermore, if wasn't clear to us as to who the Republicans want to run against, look no further than the television ads they ran against Barack in NC, I said in NC. This is where Barack was predicted to win by a large margin, so the Republicans figured they could influence voters in NC to vote for Hillary by running the Wright speeches as ads, race baiting at its finest. Notice how the Republicans did NOT run any ads against Hillary, things that make you say "hmmmm". Why? Because they perceive her as the weaker candidate. There are a plethora of examples to validate how Barack is being fought on all sides but after all of this, guess what, he's still standing and now stronger than before. For all of this Hillary is to be commended, thats right you read it right, she is to be commended. Because after all of this he has been vetted by not only her but the media, by former President, and the Republican machine. Now I know some of you will say, "He really hasn't been attacked by the Republicans like he will in the general election", well to that I say, "you cannot be tested more thoroughly than by being tested with the "race baiting", fear and divisive tactics of the Republicans". He's been tested, tried and found to be the TRUTH, see North Carolina and Indiana. So, I say again, "Thank you" to all those involved for vetting Barack, in all of this madness he did not act ungentlemanly at anytime, he remained cool, calm and collected, the marks of a true leader.
Lastly, "Then you win", eventhough this happened yet, it has now taken on an air of "inevitability". In an all out effort to sabotage Baracks' candidacy, his opponents, have in effect, made a stronger case for him to be POTUS.
Again, " First they ignored him, then they ridiculed him, then they fought him, and then he wins."
The stage is now set for the POTUS Barack Obama. Yes. We. Can.