Obama’s candidacy is neither based on vagueness nor on likability.
Granted, with all candidates suddenly talking about “change,” it might seem like the word is meaningless. But for Sen. Obama, D-Ill., change has a very concrete significance. It means doing away with the pointless partisan bickering of the past, and instead attracting the support of both independents and Republicans to actually get things done. As Democrats, we would love to see a sweeping victory in this year’s Congressional elections, but a super majority in the Senate is unlikely. Democrats will have to reach across the aisle, something Obama has done on many occasions in the past.
Change means sponsoring the toughest ethics reform bills ever for politicians in the Illinois state legislature and the U.S. Senate, it means co-sponsoring (together with, you guessed it, a Republican) legislation that makes it easy to check all federal spending online. Change means not accepting the money of lobbyists, but running a campaign that truly deserves the label “publicly funded,” with over 350,000 individual donors, and mainly small donations of $25 or $50. This is much more than a placating crutch, it is a true commitment to rewriting the rules by which Washington has been functioning since the 1990s.
Sen. Obama, as John Kerry said last week, “can be, will be and should be the next president” because he is uniquely qualified. True, he has not been in Washington very long. But before becoming editor of the Harvard Law Review, Obama had worked as a community organizer in Chicago. Barack Obama thus has real experience rooted in the real lives of real people, which will enable him to deliver real results.
Barack Obama’s political record also shows he has consistently been on the right side of the most important issues. When the other Democratic candidates voted to authorize the Iraq war, Obama, then running for the U.S. Senate, put his political career on the line by forcefully opposing a war with “undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.” Surely, the decision of whether or not to send courageous young men and women into war is the most crucial test of a president’s competence. Apologizing afterwards or opposing it when it becomes unpopular is simply not good enough.
Sen. Obama also has an impressive record ““ and excellent plans ““ on domestic issues. A staunch defender of health care, he has worked hard to make sure all children get coverage, irrespective of their parents’ income. Once elected president, he plans to lower health care costs by up to $2,500 for the average family rather than forcing them to enroll in health care plans they can’t afford. Moreover, Sen. Obama has strongly supported ““ together with both Democrats and some Republicans ““ a federal DREAM Act and, while in the Illinois state senate, sponsored the DREAM Act there.
The people (note: the people ““ not just Democrats, but many independents and some Republicans as well) of Iowa and New Hampshire have already shown they like Obama, because of his vision and his qualifications. In doing so, they have given us hope that Sen. Obama will be the next president ““ not just of the blue states, but of the United States.
Muller is the media relations director of Bruins for Obama. She is a third-year political science and history student.