how did obama know?

Something that has puzzled me ever since Obama stepped forward to run is, "How the heck did  he think he could go up against the Clintons?"

I was reminded of this quandary when reading Norbrook's diary which said:

She had the biggest campaign chest, the biggest name recognition, the ties to the political power structure, lock-ins on major campaign fundraisers, and the reputation of being part of one of the best political teams ever.  She was the "experienced" candidate, the one who had been extensively scrutinized, who had the ability to withstand any and all negative campaigning.   Remember all that?

What makes a relatively unknown youngster like Obama think he can prevail against all that? In one poll a few years ago Hillary was named one of the most admired women in the world.

She had everything going for her.  Obama had, on the surface (and it's that surface I'm trying to get beneath) very little. I remember being excited about him after the Convention speech but saying to my husband, "Forget about it. His names rhymes with Osama. And Hussein? It will never work." I also thought he was too inexperienced.

So what did Obama know? There's the audacity of hope, of course, but there's got to be more. Obama is a hardheaded realist. He is one of the clearest thinkers on the planet (literally). He's a very calculating guy. If you lined his IQ points up in a row they'd stretch to the moon.

So, then, what was it? Did he see flaws in Hillary that I missed? Did he have advisors who knew things?  Did he have a brilliant analysis of the electorate that led him to take on such an enormous challenge? Or was it a gigantic gamble that just turned out?

I'm really curious if anyone has any thoughts on this.