Many have been wonder struck at the meteoric career of Barrack Obama.
No one perhaps is more astonished than Bill and Hillary Clinton who witnessed the relentless dismantling of the famed "Clinton Machine" with scalpel-like precision by a heretofore obscure Black Senator from Illinois.
Bill Clinton famously known as "The first American Black President" watched impotently as 97% of African American voters abandoned Hillary in the Primaries.
Old Guard liberal African American leaders Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton found themselves eclipsed by an unknown upstart and most assuredly will be cast into political outer darkness with the advent of an Obama Presidency.
John McCain must be no less amazed that the Republican attack apparatus has been met by a rapid and ever agile response from the Obama political machine which surely has learned from the hapless campaign of John Kerry that a good offense is better than a good defense.
John McCain's paradoxical and incoherent use of the labels of “Islamofascist” and “Socialist” against Barrack Obama was doomed from the beginning and will do more to damage the election prospects of Republican Congressional candidates than to Obama Campaign.
Anybody with a rudimentary history of Fascism and Socialism knows that these doctrines are diametrically opposed and that Barrack could hardly be both. Proof of the antipathy between the two doctrines can easily be seen in footage of the Battle of Stalingrad.
The initial attack on Obama of being an Islamofascist was ironically obliterated by of all persons: Reverend Jeremiah Wright. The good Reverend's rants against America focused light on the fact that Obama was a Christian and not an adherent of Islam.
This left McCain with the Socialist label for Obama which he foolishly adhered to rather than the old tried and true label of: Liberal
"Socialist" is a thin unproven brushstroke applicable at best only to Barrack Obama. "Liberal" has long been manna from heaven for Republicans in tarring all of their opponents both presidential and congressional with a succinct and to the point message that all Republican candidates could echo. The vacuum created by the lack of a clear and concise message will not only prove fatal to John McCain but will result in the corpses failed Republican candidates who will perish in the upcoming elections.
A Congress controlled by Democrats may also be taken aback by an Obama Presidency. The Democratic Party is not a monolith and while Republicans are famous for always forming their firing squads in a circle, Democrats are notorious for devouring their young.
Just as President Bush fought House Republicans and the Republican members of the Gang of 14 (John McCain was their leader) it can be expected that a President Obama will attempt to exert the executive power of his administration of a Pelosi lead Congress. He will not forget with the current inactivity and possible demise of Ted Kennedy that the every pesky Senator Hillary Clinton will be vigilant in taking every opportunity to distinguish herself from President Obama.
The American Public may also be surprised by a President Barrack Obama.
One thing is clear from the Obama Campaign and that is that Chicago Politics is not based upon Fascism, Socialism, Conservatism or Liberalism. It is based upon pragmatic Power Politics. This is the lesson that the Clinton's and John McCain were too slow to grasp.
Pragmatic Power Politics may yield surprising results of which I will give only two examples:
1. Barrack Obama is indebted to African Americans for a large segment of his voting constituency. He owes less to Hispanics many of whom are competing with African Americans in the market place for jobs. A market place that is getting tougher as the economy weakens. Barrack Obama may be willing to trade strong immigration reform with the Republicans in return for a Comprehensive Health Care Program.
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