I have a theory that ONLY an African-American could have won this race. I agree that McCain's campaign was particularly inept, Pallin was a disaster for him, and the economy blowing up made the choice for America much clearer than in a long time. All these things helped President-Elect Obama, but there is something else I feel has not been addressed.
We all know the GOP has won election after election, not by addressing the issues but by attacking the character of the person they are running against.
What does this have to do with an African-American winning this race? Follow below to find out.
I will start out by relating two quick anecdotes I heard during the primary season. Way back, when it wasn't clear who the front runner for the Democrats was going to be, a lot of people were begging Al Gore to run. I heard Thom Hartmann on Air America say that he did not believe that Al Gore would do it. He was at some public function on stage with Gore, when someone asked him if he would jump in the race. Thom said that Gore's shoulder's visibly sagged at the question before he said no. He had a physical reaction to the thought of running for president again.
This summer, while talking to a neighbor about the presidential race, she told me she had worked for the Kerry campaign in our town. She went on to say that she saw John Kerry at a rally towards the end of the campaign and remarked on how he seemed like a "shell of a man". She said, "I felt like he had already given up." and after that, she felt his winning the election was a lot less certain.
I think that these two men who have worked hard and achieved much in their lives, have lived their lives as white males in a society that favors white males. Rovian smear politics hit them hard. I know they both have had to deal with character assassination before, but I think that the intensity and viciousness of the smears that were thrown at them during the race made what they went through before seem like a picnic. I think it had a negative effect on them personally and their campaigns suffered somewhat because of it.
Barack Obama, as an African-American male, has lived every day of his life dealing with character assassination. Racism, both overt and subtle, is essentially the questioning of someone's right to be equal to others and the smearing of their character. This obviously shaped him into the man he is today.
I think that the smears that were hurled at him during this election by the Clinton and McCain campaigns, had no visible effect on him because he has had to learn to temper his reactions to smears his entire life. I don't know if they hurt him on the inside, but by his not reacting to them, he defused their effectiveness. I also think that he has a very thick skin built up during his life that allowed him to keep going no matter what happened. This kept him, and therefore his campaign, from becoming distracted and allowed them to concentrate 100% of their energy on their goals.
I think it's quite possible that only an African-American could have survived this race. That, in no way, takes away from the exceptionalism of Barack Obama. He is truly a once-in-a-lifetime transformational leader and a darn good community organizer! But I can't help but think, things could have gone a lot differently if a white male, an Al Gore or John Kerry, were the Democratic nominee.
This is my first attempt at a diary and I humbly submit it.