Obama Wins BIG in South Carolina

Wow! What a win. As soon as video of the incredible victory speech is available, I will post it. It was as inspiring as the one after Iowa, but with more steel--so, maybe the media won't be annointing him already and setting up for failure as with the time between Iowa and New Hampshire.

I had been angry this week at the way that the Clintons and the media had made this almost a no win game for Obama. If he lost, they would celebrate, but if he won they would dismiss it as "just because of the black vote." 1. No one dismissed Clinton's NH victory as "just because of the white women" even though exit polls showed they were key to her NH victory. They said, rightly, that she was the "Comeback Chic," as the Kentucky Women blog put it. 2. Clinton was leading African Americans in SC for months. Obama EARNED their votes. African Americans don't automatically "vote black." There was no significant African American support in '04 for the candidacies of Ambassador Carol Mosely-Braun (D-IL) or Rev. Al Sharpton. 3. This lowballing of expectations and injection of race is typical of the Clintons. Bill Clinton today, when asked a question on a completely different subject replied, "you know, Jesse Jackson won in SC in '84 and '88." Hello! That was dismissing both as "just because they're black!" Sheesh.

But tonight will hopefully shut that up. Yes, Obama won big among African Americans--over 80%, but he also won 24% of whites in SC--who split almost in 3rds among the 3 candidates. He won significant numbers of white women, too. He beat Hillary Rodham Clinton by more than 2-1: 55% to 29% (at last count), which is a margin of victory of 29%!! That is "a thumpin" as the current White House Resident might put it.

Now, on to Tsunami Tuesday on Feb. 5th. And probably beyond that. My primary vote may actually count this year in May. It won't be easy, as Obama said. But notice that the Clintons keep trying to cheat. They agree to certain rules and then try to change them when they don't seem to work for them. We saw this in Nevada when the Culinary Workers endorsed Obama--the Clintons sued to stop caucuses in casinos--even though they agreed to that months earlier. NOW, the Clintons are trying to get the Democratic primaries in Florida and Michigan to count--even though the Party had stripped those states of their delegates because of moving up the primaries too early. I disagreed with that decision by the Democratic Party. I thought, like the GOP, that they should simply strip 50% of the delegates in punishment. But Clinton was the only one with her name still on the ballot because these races weren't supposed to count for delegates--and now she wants them too. I hope the DNC and Howard Dean stop her cold on this.
When the GOP does this, Dems rightly call it "dirty tricks" and should when the Clintons do so as well.

It's clear: Obama is giving us a message of hope and unity, and the Clintons are working at divide and conquer. I hope the states on 05 Feb (or many of them) give us the same answer as we saw tonight from the good voters of South Carolina.

There is good news for the Party and nation if we stay united: The turnout at each Democratic primary and caucus has been huge, whereas the GOP turnout has been smaller each time. Tonight, Obama won more votes on his own than John McCain and Mike Huckabee did together last week in South Carolina!

The country is hungry for change--big change, not just tiny adjustments--and it sure looks like Obama is the one to bring it to us.

A word about John Edwards. I think many of his ideas have been driving the campaign on the Democratic side. Obama's stump speeches have taken on some of Edwards' attention to issues of class and poverty and some of his fire and grit--but without his angry tone. Edwards has enough money and has won enough delegates to keep fighting and play king or queenmaker at the Convention. But he can't win the presidency: he hasn't won a single state--not even his home state of SC tonight. And I still worry that on Tsunami Tuesday he will divide the "more progressive than Clinton" vote with Obama and cause her to win the nomination. That didn't happen tonight in SC--and not in Nevada (although if all of Edwards' 4% went to Obama, it would have made Clinton's victory VERY narrow) nor Iowa. But it was a factor in New Hampshire where Obama lost by about 5%, but with Edwards 17% would have beaten Clinton in a huge way.

Please John Edwards: If you really think Sen. Clinton is part of the "status quo," as you have charged, then drop out and work for Obama. For the sake of all you believe in, sir.

Oh, and for WONDERFUL news, check out the Obama endorsement by JFK's daughter, Caroline Kennedy who says he will be a "president like my father" in the sense of inspiring that kind of hope and work for change that JFK inspired among a generation of people! Wow!