THE MOUNTAINEER

Edison L. Baddal
A view to a win (1)

BONTOC, Mountaijn Province -- Barack Obama’s victory in last Tuesday’s USA Presidential elections came at a crucial period when there is one urgent, collective desire of US citizens: change.

With many policies of George Bush in his eight-year presidency not in sync with the sentiments of the majority of the Americans which made him unpopular, the campaign slogan of change was mostly timely. The straw that broke the camel’s back which further intensified the clamor of the Americans for change in leadership came with the breakdown of the financial markets following the unthinkable collapse of wall street in mid-September.

Obama’s adroit spin doctors could not have found the most appropriate theme at the right time so that by homing in and harping on the necessity of change in the race for the white house, the Americans found the embodiment of their collective desire for change in Obama’s persona.

Meanwhile, Mccain’s desperate to up his chances in the polls by twitting Obama’s lack of experience in holding an executive position before the latter made a go for the presidency generally fell on deaf ears as the Republican party that he represented was viewed as having caused all the welter in the economic and political life of the nation. Even his sudden tack for change to misled the voters and to chip away at Obama’s lead in the pre-election surveys failed to turn things around in his favor.

Prior to the victory, it was a rough road towards the White House for Obama. The color of his skin and his ethnic race were the biggest stumbling blocks for a successful campaign thus his battle for the democratic nomination was virtually an uphill climb. In fact, he was almost dismissed on the first months of the primary elections in early 2007 as an underdog given that he was trying to buck a strong stranglehold of the Clintons on the Democratic party.

On the whole, he may have been regarded with a simper as another black man with designs aflame for the presidency. Up to that time, Americans were not yet ready for a black president even as a woman president is also an oddity for them. Nevertheless, true and genuine leaders always arose out of the ashes of turbulence at the most needed time thus the finger of destiny might have looked down upon him with favor. Be that as it may, there are many inherent factors that combined to give him the presidency.

The most pivotal factor that took the attention of partymates and the electorate is his admirable and peerless eloquence. He first manifested this during the 2004 Democratic convention to nominate the standard bearer of the party for that year’s presidential elections. The democratic nominee then, John Kerry, noticed the tremendous eloquence of Obama on that occasion.

Later, the same slick eloquence won him a senate seat on a landslide victory as the democratic contender from Illinois during the subsequent midterm elections. Similarly, his eloquence electrified the delegates and audience in different states when he barnstormed throughout the USA to gain the Democratic nomination. He prudently used this spectacular ability as a leverage against his ebony skin so that people’s attention was deviated from the color of his skin to his spanking and riveting rhetorics.

Consequently, his eloquent pounding on the necessity of amending economic policies in order to unscramble the economic mess that caused recession recently to the US economy proved crucial to the decision of the people, particularly the legions of undecided white voters, to go his way. All in all, his magnificent eloquence made vacillating white voters reconsider their prejudice and animosity for a black president.

After all, Americans have already come of age politically so that race is no longer a burning political issue following many affirmative actions initiated by former presidents in favor of the blacks.

Complementing his native eloquence is his charisma, that tenebrous power emanating from a person that enables him to attract people to his side even without trying hard to. This is manifested in his ability to mobilize hordes of people to listen to his speech. He has that innate ability to make people listen afire to his rhetorics and thus ignite people’s indifference and apathy into dynamic action as instanced by his thousands of volunteers.

Added to the above are his stringy physique, flat paunch and gentle physiognomy. Obama’s sunny disposition is a stark contrast to Mccain’s stern disposition. Obama gives out a ready smile at a drop of a hat so that people find him more amiable and down-to-earth. Notwithstanding his neophyte status as a politician, he exudes more integrity which spilled into the democratic party itself in contrast with Mccain who was regarded as Bush’s clone and in effect manifested the aura of unpopularity of the latter.

Such traits of integrity, charisma, eloquence combined with good physical attributes and exuberant youth greatly helped in clearing Obama’s path to the presidency. It is probably because of such attributes that he won 66% of the youth votes from late teens to early twenties and also a sizeable portion of the votes of the not young ranging from those aged from the mid-20’s to early 30’s.