Senator Barack Obama, the rising young star of the Democratic party, took his first step into the 2008 presidential contest on Tuesday, raising the temperature in an already heated race.
Obama’s video address on his campaign website was merely a dress rehearsal: the announcement of an exploratory committee to raise funds and build a campaign team. He is to make an official announcement of his candidacy in his home town of Chicago on February 10.
But the sheer possibility of an African-American president, and Obama’s electrifying effect on Democratic voters, assured Tuesday’s announcement widespread attention.
Obama (45) and a senator for only two years, was candid about his rapid rise. Vaulted to the national stage by his keynote address to the Democratic party convention in 2004, in recent weeks Obama has been elevated to the ranks of superstardom, thrilling audiences in New Hampshire and on a visit to Kenya in a celebrity that seems to have taken even him by surprise. ”I certainly didn’t expect to find myself in this position a year ago,” he admitted on Tuesday.
In his video address, Obama casts himself as someone untainted by the rough and tumble of politics in Washington, or by the culture wars that have obsessed the baby boomer generation. ”It’s not the magnitude of our problems that concerns me the most. It’s the smallness of our politics.”
Instead, he says he offers an escape from the dirty world of politics, and the prospect of reform.
”Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can’t tackle the big problems that demand solutions,” he says. ”And that’s what we have to change first. We have to change our politics, and come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans.”
The sunny optimism that overlay the video was not tempered by policy specifics.
As the 2008 race gets off to an unusually early start, Obama’s move presents the greatest threat to Hillary Clinton, who was crowned an early frontrunner by virtue of her fundraising prowess and the reflected glory of Bill Clinton.
However, Clinton is seen as a polarising figure and her ambiguity on Iraq — she voted for the use of force in 2002 — could come back to haunt her now that the country has turned against the war.
As US President George Bush’s popularity plummeted, Clinton has since said she would not have voted for the war if she had known how it would turn out.
Obama, in contrast, did not operate under the burdens of being an elected senator in 2002. He opposed the invasion, and spoke at anti-war demonstrations in the run-up to the invasion. In recent days, however, he has refused to say whether he would try to block funds for a troop increase as some fellow senators now demand. On Tuesday he touched only briefly on the war saying: ”We’re still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged.”
The other strong contender in the Democratic field is a former senator from North Carolina, John Edwards, battle-tested after the 2004 elections when he served as a running mate to John Kerry, and newly minted as a strong opponent of the war.
Other Democratic contenders are at risk of being outshone by the sheer force of Obama’s charisma, or the name recognition of Edwards and Clinton. The eclipsed contenders include Tom Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa from a hardscrabble background, Chris Dodd, a Senator from Connecticut, and Dennis Kucinich, a left-wing congressman from Ohio.
Even in this crowded field, other veteran Democrats are considering their options for 2008, including Senator John Kerry, the contender in 2004, and Senator Joe Biden, the powerful chairperson of the Senate foreign relations committee.
However, other potential contenders were discouraged by Obama’s celebrity. Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana withdrew from the race, citing the difficulties of putting his message across in a field dominated by celebrities. Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin also took himself out of the running.
For Democrats, Obama represents the possibility of change, a hope he has nurtured since the Democratic convention. It is also embodied in Obama’s personal story. The son of a Kenyan father and a white woman from Kansas, Obama was the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review. After a few years as a community organiser in the South Side of Chicago, he was elected to the Illinois state senate in 1996.
Obama might still be there but for a lucky break in the 2004 Senate race when the original Republican opponent was forced to drop out because of a divorce scandal. Along the way, Obama wrote two bestselling autobiographical books, winning a Grammy award for the audio version of one of them.
Presidential hopefuls
Democrats
Hillary Clinton: Seen as a potential candidate since first elected senator for New York in 2000. A fundraising powerhouse, but ambiguous about the Iraq war, which could hurt her. May make a declaration this week.
Barack Obama: Junior senator from Illinois and a rising star since his electrifying speech to the 2004 party convention. His lack of experience is made up for by his appeal to audiences from New Hampshire to Kenya, where his father hails from. Opposed Iraq war.
John Edwards: Veteran of the campaign trail as John Kerry’s 2004 running mate. He has staked out ground on the left, with an anti-poverty platform. Opposed Iraq war.
Republicans
John McCain: Former navy pilot and senator from Arizona owes his military credentials to the years spent in the ”Hanoi Hilton” after being shot down in Vietnam. Backs George Bush on the troop surge.
Mitt Romney: A Mormon and son of a former Michigan governor, Romney rose to prominence for organising the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. As a Republican governor of liberal Massachusetts, he approved a ban on assault weapons and made no move to restrict abortion rights.
Sam Brownback: Kansas senator expected to make a formal announcement on Saturday, and will run on the issues that move the Republican base. Opposes abortion and stem-cell research, and what he calls the ”homosexual agenda”, and supports creationism in state schools
Rudy Giuliani: Former New York city mayor’s interest became clear this month after a strategy document was leaked. Moderate image may hurt him among primary voters. – Guardian Unlimited Â