To see why, you have to look way back to when Obama first started running. I know some of you did not support him at that time but those of us who did did so for a very specific reason. You see I did not support Obama from the beginning because he was the first "clean and articulate" African American candidate.
(more over the fold....)
Nor was it because of his cool youngish aura nor because of his classy hot wife nor his adorable cute well behaved little kids nor the rest of his family. I like many more supported him because we saw in him a unique ability to make change palatable in terms that had escaped others before him. He was able to bridge the sorry false dichotomies entrenched in our politics and sound rationale and not pull his punches. He said, he not only wants to end this war but end the mindset that leads to wars. He said, he was not against progressive ideologies but against a politics that sacrificed progress for power gained through ideological wedges and wars. He was firm without being apologetic and showed a skill that made it possible to believe that change was possible. Now why have we already won? When change became the main theme of the Democratic primaries we knew that change was on the march. When the old guard of the democratic establishment rose against him and was beaten we knew that change was gathering steam. When he roared into the general election and put the party in power on notice that enough is enough we new change is unstoppable.
But then there was Palin. But Palin is why we may have already won. You see Democrats soften up when we are ahead and ever since Obama has been ahead in the general he has pushed less hard and has let his message lose some focus and sharpness lest we alienate anyone in the middle. Now I have never figured out who in the middle is supposed to be swayed by muddied messages and softness on policy. But then again I am not a professional politician or a highly paid consultant who can slice and dice every voting block and project with confidence into voting patterns of the future. But some do and some in the Democratic party still hold power and follow their guide. Now for Obama to have sharpened his message may have caused concerns and cries of caution. He may have heeded that call as his temperament is to be expedient and wise. But we have already won when even the forces of darkness themselves call for change. This call is the sign that Obama has won. He had done this before. He did just that back in the primaries where he proved the skeptics wrong by becoming the change that so many disbelieved. He has become the change again. When everyone is calling for change Obama has won.
Still the real reason why we will win will not be because of their call for change. We will win, because now Obama now needs and will get the free rein form the establishment of the party to go back to the roots of his call for change. He will call out attention to the folly of war instead of praising one against the other. He will draw attention to simulative impact of investments in our infrastructure instead of silent nods to discredited tax cuts for the rich. He will insist on improving education from ground up instead of allowing them to sell a phony plan to wave a voucher and leave everyone behind. He will lead the fight to provide health insurance for all and call out the hypocrisy that cheers corrupt bloated programs that help pharmaceutical companies with sub-optimal patience benefits but cries out against plans that give everyone hope. He will tell everyone about the Supreme Court choices and their impact on women’s' lives and on working people's lives, and on all of our lives. He will have to and will show us the difference between real change and change for politics sake
And when he does not only will he win. We will win. The Democrats will win. America will win and the world will win.
Yes he can.
Yes we can.
Yes we will.