But it really happened sometime back in February, that moment when the critical distance was achieved and Obama became unpassable. The realization hit me I think during the Potomac Primaries. The expected blow-out in DC, a formidable win in Maryland and a strong win in Virginia. Obama was achieving the unthinkable. It would be hard to stop him now. February was lining up win after win for Obama. The pressure was on Hillary, the writing was on the wall. It was in February that for the first time we heard the plea for patience. Ohio and Texas. We must wait until Ohio and Texas have had their say. But ever since February, and all the various pleas that have followed the "Ohio and Texas" one, it has been a foregone conclusion that the inevitable candidate, the party insider, the fighter, would have too steep a hill to climb.
A cursory look at demographics could have shown to a even politcal novitiate way back in January what the results of the primaries were most likely going to be. Remember the "leaked" results prediction from the Obama camp in February? It has proven more or less correct. But I would like to assert, despite what some political pundits might want to believe, that these demographic groups have not been manipulated very much by Fox News and the traditional media. Baggage or no baggage. Gender, race, and personality did not loom large in the decisions voters made. It may be true that these things fed the media whirlwind but, I believe, this primary season has always been about approach: the pragmatic fighter vs the idealistic uniter. Certainly these categories do not perfectly fit the candidates but they, each in their own way, speak loudly to the unique needs of the different demographic groups who supported them.
I will say here and now that I am for party unity and the gracious inviting back into the fold of any Hillary supporters who might be willing to give Barack a second look. The Democratic Party has always been about a variety of groups and perspectives coming together to try to further a more of less progressive agenda. No real Democrat would ever vote for McCain. I might say that I would in anger, but actually doing it is just too self-destructive. Even those of us who have supported Obama are a varied group. We know that there will be no perfect uniting of America. We know that many of the ideals represented by Obama, his "hope platform", if you will, will no doubt meet with setbacks and defeats. But what the Republicans have done in office over the last eight years has demanded that we hold fast to this desire for change. Obama wanted to run his campaign differently. He wanted to run it in order to unify rather than divide and this, at the end of this long and, yes, divisive primary season, is what America has chosen this year. We want to become whole again. We want to be peacemakers again. We want to lead the world with our humanitarian ideals. And if it is true that Obama was motivated to run for President based in part on this powerful sentiment, to reach higher in order to bring us together, then perhaps the race was actually over long before February.
And in spite of all the cynics out there who have rained heavily upon your ideals, which are essentially core American ideals, I want to say this evening, "Thank you Barack Obama for helping us to dream again and you, and all of us, have won!" On to November and the White House.