Barack the builder?
Updated on 27 January 2008
It's the past versus the future, round two. Barack Obama is newly invigorated by a landslide win in South Carolina - building on a coalition he's called the most diverse for decades.
Eighty percent of the 'black vote' - pretty amazing in itself. And, significantly Obama also won a vast majority of black women, who turned out in huge numbers - the very voters who were apparently dithering between whether to back him, or the white womens' choice - Hillary Clinton.
But there's not much sign of typecasting - even though he won less support among whites than Clinton and Edwards, Obama did better than expected, and well enough to prove he's not being consigned to a racial ghetto.
His message now, heading towards the 22 states that vote on Super Tuesday, is even more strongly about change. His victory speech barely tried to disguise its sideswipes at the back-to-the-nineties Clinton machine, after the ugly twist the campaign's been taking in recent days: "Real leadership is about candor, and judgment, and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose - a higher purpose", he declared, to much applause.
After some initial frustration, and moments of fluster - supporters talked of how much fun his rallies were, the spirit of excitement - one remarking that the only person who'd come close to generating such an atmosphere was Martin Luther King.
Now, to underline his success, he's won a surprise endorsement from JFK's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, in a New York Times op-ed headlined 'A President like my Father'. No wonder online donations have been flooding in at the astonishing rate of $500,000 an hour.
The race card is proving a truly dangerous one to play - no matter who started it
So what's the message for Hillary Clinton - who was off to campaign in Tennessee before the Palmetto state's ballots had even closed? With any luck it will be - enough, already, with all the attacks. With the nomination battle now set to last well beyond Super Tuesday, it's surely in neither candidate's interest to drag it down into a spiral of bitter infighting, with both frontrunners ripping chunks out of each other while the voters look on in horror.
The race card is proving a truly dangerous one to play - no matter who started it: conciliation, on the other hand - and attacking the real enemy, the Republicans, can only be an improvement from here.
The crowds at Barack Obama's victory rally last night chanted 'Race doesn't matter': of course, it does: just look at the response to an editorial in South Carolina newspaper The State which endorsed Obama, a caller furious because it was 'supporting a black man' - the audio included on the editor's own blog.
Dangerous sentiments: lurking barely beneath the surface: so easy to ignite.
The second lesson is the Bill effect. Hillary outsourced much of her campaigning to the former President, dubbed a 'super surrogate' - but with mixed results. Sixty percent of South Carolina voters apparently said his contribution had affected their choice - but not necessarily to Hillary's benefit.
He remains perhaps the consummate campaigner - never mind his 'aw shucks' attitude the other day - 'when you're no longer President, the good thing is you can say whatever you want - but people aren't necessarily going to take any notice'. Yeah, right. Notice they certainly do: and attacks on Obama, whether over his experience, or his character, have not gone down well.
Going forward towards Super Tuesday there's much to be encouraged about: record turnouts, thousands of new, young, voters, a genuine interest in the politics of the campaign.
But there is also much to beware: a dogfight for the Democratic nomination could leave the party wounded - with no real winners - and the prospect of an all out civil war. A million miles from the message of hope, and change, that the candidates are trying so hard to promote.
