Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Barack Obama's Endorsement Derby

Fast and furious the endorsements are piling up like holiday presents for Barack Obama today. Nobody wants to be left behind or kicked to the curb. From Jimmy Carter, a former president with serious foreign policy credentials to an ex-Clinton Super Delegate, Maxine Waters who actually had the nerve to tell Obama supporters to get over it on TV are embracing his historic presidential candidacy. James Clyburn gave his blessing this morning at o dark thirty California time to get the super delegate derby off to a rolling start. All of this is either at the close of the last two remaining primary contest of South Dakota and Montana. At the Big Sky country's closing, a contingent of super D's will put a point on their state's expected win. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo)

Carter told The Associated Press on Tuesday: "The fact is the Obama people already know they have my vote when the polls close tonight." Carter spoke to the AP after addressing the Georgia World Congress Center.

A political new day is dawning with Barack Obama transforming into the presumptive nominee. The Delegate Derby is on a muddy track with super delegates realizing that their claim to being a part of this contest are breaking endorsement speed records to preserve their opportunity to help him become the next president. In this day of transparency people will know who was actually onboard early and who did a hand wringing Hamlet interpretation.
All presidential campaigns are historic, but the nature of this one has redefined the scale, with a white woman and a biracial man the last two serious contenders for a major party nomination in a Democratic primary battle that included five months of balloting, burned through $400 million and shattered state voter-turnout records for primary elections and caucuses. The general election is likely to be just as dramatic, pitting not just differing ideologies against each other but two generations of voters as well -- those who came of age during the Vietnam War versus those shaped by the Iraq wars.
More than that, it is a day with history in mind as Barack Obama speaks to the nation tonight for the first time as the Democratic Party's nominee. His family will appear on stage and his biography will be introduced to a mega global audience. The best part is that American history will note that he is the first biracial man to win a nomination in a country that fought a civil war over slavery after incorporating in its founding documents that a black man's vote was worth only 3/5ths. This is the year that the content of his character counts more than the color of his skin. For that, I shall watch avidly, weep a bit and cheer his, our, this accomplishment to the end of my days.

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