Tough 2007 taught Obama how to fight
suntimes.com
January 1, 2008
BY JENNIFER HUNTER
It was a bone-chilling morning on Feb. 10, 2007, as Sen. Barack Obama stood in front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield to announce he was running for president.
The Illinois Democrat was a candidate whose parentage (African and Caucasian), elite education and emotionally riveting speech at his party's 2004 national convention seemed to bridge the racial divide that has distempered the American psyche.
Obama's eloquence and promise of hope made him a serious rival to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. But taking her on wasn't easy; Obama was too genteel to smack a lady for her policies, and it took him months to muster up the wherewithal to criticize her. She led in the polls for months, but his tours through Iowa taught him to duck and weave Clinton's jabs, and it gave him confidence in himself.
Obama has turned out to be a feisty Rocky with a Harvard Law degree, vying with Clinton and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards for first place as the Iowa caucuses loom.
Unlike Clinton, who headed off to New Hampshire after her presidential announcement, Obama tried to show Iowans how important they were to him. He headed there right after his announcement in Springfield.
It was a dizzying experience. Each stop provided standing-room-only crowds eager to see the young senator and his family.
In Ames, he held his first press conference and was asked about Australian Prime Minister John Howard's criticisms of Obama's proposal to withdraw U.S. troops in Iraq by March. It was the first jab at Obama's foreign policy, his so-called lack of experience and -- coming from another country -- it was uncomfortable.
More discomfort awaited Obama in Chicago the next day. After all the cheers he had received, war protesters at the University of Illinois at Chicago greeted him with boos.
Over the next six months, Obama would make many visits to Iowa and New Hampshire -- with occasional forays to South Carolina, Nevada and California -- ducking out to fund-raising events between public town hall meetings. In fact, he spent so much time on the phone and importuning small groups for money that he was able to woo some former Clinton supporters, including high-profile Hollywood types such as David Geffen.
It provided fruit. The first announcement of how much each candidate had raised in the first quarter showed Obama outdrew Clinton by more than $5 million -- a shocker for those who believed the Clinton campaign machine was unbeatable.
But with accolades came criticisms, including Obama's relationship with indicted Wilmette businessman Tony Rezko, who had helped launch his political career; the veracity of characters in his autobiography, Dreams from My Father; and some of his personal investments, which relied to some extent on federal-government funding.
His campaign's sortie into new media, in a way no other campaign had done, also led to some thorny problems. The campaign had to take over the MySpace Web site of an early Obama admirer, Joe Anthony, who had posted errors on his site.
The debates detracted from Obama's luster, even though he was beloved by the university crowd. He was constantly bested by Clinton. She jabbed him for inexperience on foreign affairs after he said he would talk to leaders of rogue states such as Iran without preconditions.
His supporters demanded he be tougher on Clinton. And Obama tried, getting in a few blows, but as the herald of hope he found it distasteful. In October, things began to turn around for him in terms of his self-confidence and public support. His repeated stump speech about his unique origins began to resonate with Iowans.
This coincided with Clinton beginning to stumble in the debates; she was also criticized for being cold and calculating. A college student complained Clinton's campaign had planted a question with her, and Clinton -- who had formerly taken the high road -- began to sling mud at Obama. One of her advisers resigned after saying Obama's youthful use of drugs would give ammo to the Republicans.
The Obama team ignored the controversy -- it looked like their candidate could win Iowa.
In two days, we will know if that's true. But the savviest political minds can never predict how Iowans will decide. |
