Election News and Features
Change Is the Watchword, but Can Obama or Clinton Deliver?
January 08, 2008 02:15 PM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Voters and commentators are starting to wonder whether, with a woman and a black man competing in the primaries, minority status is too readily equated with political transformation.
30-Second Summary
The Iowa caucus showed that voters were interested in a political shift: Sen. Barack Obama triumphed among Democrats with the slogan “Obama for Change.”
To many voters, his ethnic background and short career as a congressman distinguish him from more traditional and established candidates.
Sen. Hillary Clinton also stands out from the male-dominated Washington establishment as the sole female candidate. And yet she failed to appeal to youth and female voters in the Iowa caucus.
Possibly, progressive voters longing for a shift in leadership identify Clinton too closely with the current Washington landscape.
The chant of “change” clearly pushes the right buttons at the moment. But the question remains as to what kind of transformation the electorate wants and who—if anyone—can provide it.
Not Obama, says German magazine Der Spiegel. In that publication, Obama’s victory in Iowa is depicted as a “modern fairytale” that will be cut short before the candidate has any real chance to become president. Whether U.S. readers will recognize the America described in Der Spiegel is a matter for debate.
On the other hand, at The Baltimore Sun one writer has concluded that the game may already be over for Hillary Clinton. “It is, ahem, too late to change to be the candidate of change,” Michael Tackett writes.
To many voters, his ethnic background and short career as a congressman distinguish him from more traditional and established candidates.
Sen. Hillary Clinton also stands out from the male-dominated Washington establishment as the sole female candidate. And yet she failed to appeal to youth and female voters in the Iowa caucus.
Possibly, progressive voters longing for a shift in leadership identify Clinton too closely with the current Washington landscape.
The chant of “change” clearly pushes the right buttons at the moment. But the question remains as to what kind of transformation the electorate wants and who—if anyone—can provide it.
Not Obama, says German magazine Der Spiegel. In that publication, Obama’s victory in Iowa is depicted as a “modern fairytale” that will be cut short before the candidate has any real chance to become president. Whether U.S. readers will recognize the America described in Der Spiegel is a matter for debate.
On the other hand, at The Baltimore Sun one writer has concluded that the game may already be over for Hillary Clinton. “It is, ahem, too late to change to be the candidate of change,” Michael Tackett writes.
Headline: Obama’s Iowa win
Obama won with a campaign appealing to a broad range of voters, including the young, independents and female voters. According to CBS, “Those who said they want change gave significant support to Obama.”
Source: CNN
Key Players: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton
Barack Obama (1961– )
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the son of a White woman from Kansas and a Kenyan man, has been framed as an outsider in the White House race on account of ethnicity, youth and his short, four-year career in Washington. The BBC profiles the senator who has interpreted his unusual background as the expression of U.S. ideals. “Through hard work and perseverance my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place—America, which stood as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come before,” Obama said.
Source: The BBC
Obama's voting records from both Congress and the Senate are available online.
Source: Votesmart
Hillary Clinton (1947– )
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D–NY) was, until Iowa, the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic candidacy. She has billed herself as the experienced alternative to Obama, though it has been suggested that there is too much bad blood between her and the electorate. On the subject of her being a “divisive” figure, the BBC profile says that label “applies to almost every politician.”
Source: The BBC
Hillary Clinton’s complete voting record is available from Votesmart.org.
Source: Votesmart
Opinion and Analysis: Got any change?
On Obama …
According to Alternet.org, a progressive online journal, Obama’s appeal extends beyond the white, suburban voters who have determined the fate of past elections. “Obama has a story, a narrative, that has the potential to bring a whole group of people who haven't been politically engaged in the past into the political world for the first time,” Alternet writes. In addition, the article cautions that Obama needs to get tough: “But if Obama were to win the nomination, those desperate to see real change should hope that Barack Obama's touchy-feely message of hope and healing is nothing more than snappy campaign rhetoric.” Alertnet writes that change “is a nebulous slogan,” and that, “there's a fundamental divide between Obama's post-partisan rhetoric, and the hunger among many progressives for a fighter who will stand up to the Right-wing noise machine and effectively slug it out with the GOP.”
Source: Alternet.org
According to British newspaper The Guardian, Obama is not a grassroots candidate with a unified constituency of voters repressed by the Washington establishment. In fact, The Guardian writes that “with no roots in the black politics … Obama emerged from academe. Politically speaking, he was not produced by the black community, but presented to it.” The article then compares Obama’s victory to Jesse Jackson's 55 percent win of primary voters in Wisconsin during the 1988 election: “In short, the forces that made a Jackson candidacy viable are themselves scarcely viable.” While Obama appeals to ideological voters on a theoretical level, the grassroots constituents in place during the feminist and civil rights movements no longer exist to support him.
Source: The Guardian
German magazine Der Spiegel calls Obama’s triumph in Iowa a “modern fairytale,” a moment of American idealism that can never last long enough to take the candidate to the White House. The article claims that “Obama, like Republican winner Mike Huckabee, is like a blank sheet of paper on which [voters] could project their disaffection.” Ultimately, Der Spiegel argues that an Obama presidential win will be prevented by his lack of experience and an overly rhetorical approach that falters in the face of practical decision making.
Source: Spiegel
On Clinton …
The Swamp, The Baltimore Sun’s political blog, slams Hillary Clinton’s sudden claim to be an agent of change, writing, “She entered the race as the Establishment Democrat, the one who would return power to the party. She had endorsements, money and organization … it is, ahem, too late to change to be the candidate of change.” The article continues, “Obama can't point to much change that he has brought either, but voters clearly find it an easier sell with him … They like him.”
Source: The Baltimore Sun (The Swamp)
The Clinton campaign has made a big effort to target female votes. According to The Guardian, “Hillary Clinton has poured time and money into courting female voters. But, despite emotional appearances in Iowa beside her mother and her daughter, the former first lady won only 30 percent of women voters in the caucus to Barack Obama's 35 percent.” Additionally, “About half of Iowa Democrats said they chose the candidate who best represented change. Obama, with his message of unity and ‘post-partisan’ politics, took just over half those voters.”
Source: The Guardian
Internet daily American Thinker published an article in September of 2007 saying that Hillary Clinton has preached change since 1993. According to the article, shortly after her husband was elected, Clinton stressed the need to “Remold our country.” The piece goes on to say that in a rally in New Hampshire during Labor Day weekend 2007, Clinton's campaign was titled "Change We Need." She said, "I will bring my experience to the White House and begin to change our country starting on Day One." The discussion that follows analyzes specific policy issues that symbolize Clinton’s dedication to change, including socializing medicine and scaling back energy consumption.
Source: American Thinker
Related Links: Everybody changes
The Huffington Post examines “change” as the campaign theme of the moment, writing, “All this change! Someone grab a piggy bank! Apparently, change is the CSI of this campaign season; everyone wants their own hit version.” The article explores how across the board, candidates have adopted Obama’s campaign theme. For example, “Hillary is now ‘running on 35 years of change.’” The article concludes, “'Change' is the holy grail of this campaign. Good thing all the candidates have been about that from the start!” citing the New Hampshire debates, when virtually every candidate touted his or her experience effecting or promoting change.
Source: Huffington Post
On Sunday Jan. 6, the two candidates addressed rallies, competing to see who best embodies change. The New York Times analyzes the candidates’ rhetoric: “Hillary Clinton told voters they should elect 'a doer, not a talker.' Barack Obama countered that his rivals are stuck in the politics of the past.” Other memorable quotes include Clinton’s accusation, "You campaign in poetry, you govern in prose,'' and Obama’s warning, ''The real gamble in this election is to do the same things, with the same folks, playing the same games over and over and over again and somehow expect a different result.”
Source: The New York Times
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