Obama Road to the White House

By Choi Yearn-hong

I was one of a few people who cheered Barack Obama when he declared his running for the Democratic Party's presidential primary election in 2007.

The declaration itself was an American drama, because he was the first black politician to run for the highest office in the United States.

I wrote that I was nostalgic for the 1960s when I lived as a student at Indiana University. I thought he was a reincarnation of this time.

At Indiana University, the so-called radical students elected a black student as the student government president and a white student as vice president. I was one of the radical students who ran and won the student senator's seat for foreign students.

The tide of the 60s disappeared at the entrance of the 70s. The Vietnam War was over. The civil right movements and the environmental movements were quiet in the 70s. I almost forgot the frenzy of the 60s. The Beatles reminded me of my youthful days.

So I was nostalgic when Obama emerged as a decent presidential candidate for the Democratic primaries. Unexpectedly he had a good fight with other Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton and won the Democratic Party nomination at Denver in August 2008.

He nominated Sen. Joseph Biden from Delaware, who had his own presidential ambitions. Biden made a comment on Obama that he was ``articulate, bright, and clean."

This could be an innocuously racist remark because it celebrated Obama at the expense of previous black politicians who were presumably inarticulate, not bright, and unclean.

I agreed wholeheartedly with Biden's remarks. Obama was the first black politician clearly beyond ``affirmative action." He was an able man who could compete with any white man.

The American voters became more aware of his competence from the primaries and less aware of his color of skin. That was a dramatic change in the autumn of 2008. They had not seen his educational background in Columbia and Harvard Law School before.

They did eventually see his substance behind his rhetoric. He was calm and intelligent enough to see things in and outside the United States. Three presidential debates showed his intellectual power was equal to or better than McCain's.

Then, the financial crisis from Wall Street ironically helped his popularity. His anti-war policy was not penetrating the conservative American mind. But the U.S. economic crisis redirected conservative voters toward Obama.

McCain's popularity solely dwelled on the national security issue. The presidential election will be decided by the candidate's prospective ability to handle the financial crisis, not the Iraq War.

McCain's selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska also hurt the Republican Party, because she identified herself as a ``hockey mom." The hockey mom cannot handle the presidential affairs at all. Her look and common sense are not enough for national politics.

When Obama electrified the Democratic Party convention, I started to read his books, ``Dreams From My Father" and ``The Audacity of Hope." His writing skill as a novelist moved my heart. His oratorical skill was matched by his writing ability.

His freshness and idealism were certainly ``Kennedyesque." His hope or dream was a kind of Rev. Martin Luther King's. That was why he was a reincarnation of the 1960s I observed and participated in as a college student. Those who read his books would vote for him.

His short and thin experiences in national politics could reduce his chances of victory on Nov. 4. But he has proven so far that he has the necessary intelligence and calmness to cope with domestic and foreign crisis.

In the final moment, his tax policy has been coined as Marxist and socialist by McCain and Palin. However, any tax policy has the purpose of redistributing the wealth of the nation.

Obama's progressive income tax policy may not attract the Wall Street Journal's endorsement, but he has already received many endorsements including the Washington Post and the New York Times.

I do not expect Obama to adopt the Marxist policy. He wrote in his prologue of ``The audacity of Hope": ``I am angry about policies that consistently favor the wealthy and powerful over average Americans, and insist that government has an important role in opening up opportunity to all."

His prologue was nothing wrong. That was what I taught at American government classes throughout my teaching career.

His victory is certain. All the polls indicate his big lead. However, his chance of implementing his promises to the voters will be marginal. I have seen many proposals similar to his promises not go anywhere.

The U.S. has been institutionalized over many years. No one likes the interest group politics, but no one has won a war against interest group politics. Comprehensive health care has been proposed, but nothing has been done.

The financial crisis will be solved by government intervention, but its ultimate solution will be possible by business ethics. The Iraq War will be shortened when he enters the White House in 2009. I also hope to see color-blind politics from the White House during his presidency.

The writer is a political scientist, and retired college professor after a long teaching career in the United States and Korea.