Obama's Victory

Well, he won.

There’s lots to write about today, and there will be websites and column inches filled with hyperbole and a combination of both wonderful analysis and mindless rhetoric. This blog will be no exception. And expect to see the word “history” banded around a lot this morning. After all, things become even more important if you stick the tag “historical” on them. But fuck me, Obama’s victory probably warrants that tag like few other events do.

Before I go into the business of autopsying the McCain campaign and looking into my crystal ball to see what Obama’s presidency may be like, let’s just stop for a moment, and look at what Obama has actually achieved. Regardless of whether you think that Obama is a combination of Jesus Christ, John F Kennedy and Luke Skywalker all rolled into one great package, or whether you think that Obama is an evil lefty ally of evil terrorists everywhere, you have to concede that he has achieved a great deal. A year ago, he was a candidate on the periphery of the Democratic primary season. 4 years ago, he was elected as the junior Senator for Illinois. 8 years ago, no-one had heard of him. Now, he is President-elect of the United States.

And in his brief time in American politics, he has managed not just to climb to the top of the tree, he has also managed to build up a formidable election machine. An election machine that manage to slowly wear down the might of the Clintons, and destroy the widely held assumption that Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee. And he also managed to comprehensively beat the Republican election machine that has seen off, in the past eight years, a Vice-President and a highly experienced and (in some circles) respected Senator. This time last year, the Obama candidacy looked like he was placing a marker down for future Presidential elections. Now, he is president-elect. It is pretty good going, all told.

Also, Obama has managed to do all this without really committing to anything other than supporting change.

But not is not the time for casual snipes about Obama – they’ll be enough time for that over the next four to eight years. And whilst I am far from sold on Obama, I don’t think I will be alone in admiring what the man has achieved. Circumstances and the actions of his opponents played their part in his victory, but a lot of the credit has to lie with Obama.

Put simply, the boy done good.