Why Clinton Lost (And Why Obama Just May Win Big In November)

Tweet

But change was taking place. From coast to coast, red states to blue, ordinary Americans were called upon to do an extraordinary thing -- hope again. Obama's near-perfect campaign execution coupled with the very real desire to seek out fundamental change did indeed create a movement. This was not, as Hillary made it out to be, some sort of naive infatuation: Framing Obama as both a deceiver and a dream weaver, Clinton said "none of the problems we face will be easily solved." Then oozing derision, Clinton cracked, "Now, I could stand up here and say, 'Let's just get everybody together. Let's get unified. The sky will open. The light will come down. Celestial choirs will be singing, and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect.'" The Clinton campaign refused to believe in the authenticity of the "change" movement. For them, it was another manufactured story, hyped up by the "anti-Clinton" media. And while they failed to recognize that the wide-spread support for the skinny kid with a funny a name was indeed organic, and while they downplayed the idealism of Obama supporters, hope proved to be very contagious. And soon, it was apparent that the phenomenon reported by the press was indeed very, very real. It was, in a word, a movement. And when that movement took to the polls, it beat in her in state after state, in caucuses and primaries alike, in small states and big states, and yes, in states that "matter." It was a conspiracy after all -- a conspiracy by millions of Americans to hope for and vote for something daring, and different, and desperately needed: a new politics for a new era in America history. The millions of voters who carried Obama through to victory in the primary were underestimated by the Clinton campaign, and they'll likely be underestimated again in the general. The GOP is already deploying full force every lie and smear it can to attack Obama. The bruising fights of the primary will be child's play compared to the all-out ideological war we will face in the fall. Republicans believe that they can win the presidency by exposing the "real" Obama -- whatever lie that turns out to be. But this strategy is premised in the erroneous belief (that was shared in part by Clinton) that the man makes the movement. For those of us in the trenches, for the millions of us who believe "hope" is isn't a slogan but a way forward, this election is about so much more than one man. It's about 160,000 men and women in Iraq, or about the 47 million Americans without healthcare. It's about one child going to bed hungry or one mother having to work two jobs to make ends meet. It is, in sum, about the things we carry, on our shoulders, in our hearts and in our conscience. And it is that movement which may well carry Barack Obama into the White House.