Obama became President last week, which is of course a good thing, considering I supported him. 😉 It took me a while to get there, though. A short history …
I actually didn’t get what people had with him in the early primaries. He seemed to come out of nowhere. Suddenly a serious opponent to Hillary Clinton, the sure candidate to win the primaries since around 2006. I really didn’t get it: How did he get in this position? Why are all my neighbors going crazy about him? And that was besides him being a guy of my style: well-educated, intellectual and well-traveled. But his lack of experience struck me. Normally not such a big problem, but my argument during the primaries was that the US elected an inexperienced president in 2000 and that was a disaster for 8 years. Wouldn’t somebody more experience be a better choice after Bush? Another problem was the idealism. After all, Bush was also an idealist in his specific ways (e.g. religious topics). Another 8 years of polarized, dogmatic politics, just this time from the other side? Plus, the opponent was Hillary Clinton. I really wanted a Clinton back in the White House. As my friend Adam was saying, I’m old enough to remember the early 90s, that’s why I want a Clinton back. That feeling was obviously not shared with several younger people I talked to during the primaries. One even said that the 90s was such an easy time to govern, everybody could have done it. So much for history I guess. 😉
And the primaries were harsh. My apartment building had serious arguments between Clinton and Obama fans. People were throwing nasty stuff at each other all over the country. Every primary was watched, analyzed intensively and debated. At the end Obama won, but barely. I was slightly disappointed. Obama was still a blank for me. No program, no clearcut ideas, no real picture about his personality.
Over the course of 2008 that changed dramatically. First came an article in the New Yorker about Obama’s year in Chicago. The summary of the article would be roughly this: He is a hardcore pragmatic who excelled in working the Chicago political machine. Idealist? Not really. That warmed me up a lot to him. An undogmatic pragmatist would not only be the Anti-Bush, but also a perfect alternative to the Republican politics in general.
The second change was of course in McCain. He changed. A Lot. He became an anti-abortionist. He wanted to intensify Bush’s tax cut. He denounced his own immigration reform. And then came Palin. I mean serious, what was he thinking? Jon Stewart called her the She-Bush once. Very much to the point: Dogmatic, anti-intellectual, unworldly. By then I was already for Obama. And I had to witness how the Republican campaign disintegrated into anti-intellectualism (Drill, Baby, Drill), name-calling (Obama as a socialist/communistic/terrorist) and just plain stupidity (Joe, the Plumber). At the end I was ready to leave the country if McCain wins. I don’t think I have been more surprised by a politician then by Obama and more disappointed than by McCain.