For weeks, Obama campaigned in a nerve-racking limbo, maintaining a seemingly insurmountable lead in delegates, yet unable to shake the threat that sundry controversies or Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's critiques would yet convince Democrats that he was not their best standard-bearer. But after his strong performance in Indiana and North Carolina produced a marked shift in the narrative -- he finally surpassed Clinton in endorsements from party superdelegates on Saturday -- Obama is allowing himself, at long last, to breathe easier and savor his achievement.
Finally, even though there's still a "mathematical chance" that the Democratic nomination could be snatched from his grasp, it's beginning to appear that Sen. Barack Obama is going to be carrying the party's standard into the Novermber general election...and Oregon is as good a place for a coronation as any.
Obama will actually be in downtown Portland for a rally in Waterfront Park on Sunday afternoon, and I'd been toying with the idea of going. I have a feeling that my abiding hatred of crowds may win out...and I may actually have an even better option for whiling away a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon. Imagine that.... Regardless of whether or not I go to the rally, though, I'm just happy to see that reality is beginning to take hold....and downtown Portland on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon is a great place for that reality to sink in.
As of this moment, the only way Obama could conceivably lose the nomination would be if pictures of him in flagrante delicto with Miley Cyrus appeared in Vanity Fair. The man is going to be the Democratic nominee, and...given the feckless Republican relic he'll be running against, it's difficult to imagine a scenario in which Barack Obama won't be taking the oath of office on the Capitol steps on 1.20.09.
I'm not going to sit here, Pollyanna-like, and hold forth on how a President Obama will usher in a modern version of Camelot, where brave princes and fair damsels selflessly endeavor to make this world a better place. Still it will be nice to live in a world where the role of government isn't ipso facto to line the pockets of Big Business and those who donate large wads of dirty money to the GOP.
It will also be nice to be able to use the word "President" and the name of the occupant of the White House in the same sentence. When I first began blogging just before 9.11, I promised that as long as The Worst President EVER © was in office, I would never use his name and "President" in the same sentence. So far, I've kept that promise. Eight years later, he's still in my mind not a legitimate or worthy President. Stealing an election is not something I forgive easily, nor is the corruption and ineptitude that has become the hallmark of the Reign of Error © .
I want to be proud of my country again, and for the first time in eight years, I have hope that this may yet happen in my lifetime. Hope, while a tired, shop-worn campaign slogan to some, is and can be a powerful thing to believe in...and I still do. I'm glad that Oregon has a role to play in restoring that hope.
