A candidate vs. a movement

There is a huge difference between the two contenders'

runs for the White House: Hillary is a candidate and Obama is a movement.

A year ago, Jesse Lava, the director of this
site, asked me who I was supporting: Obama or Hillary. My answer then was
Hillary.  However, after hearing Obama's
speech after he won the Iowa Caucuses, I became an Obama convert.

On that night I heard a combination of Martin
Luther King, Jr., and President John F. Kennedy. Both of those men led
movements. Both of those men inspired America to hope again after so much hurt.
Both of those men inspired America to come together again after so much
division. To hear Obama speak is to hear the hope that America so desperately
needs. Words? I am sorry, Hillary, but words inspire hope and words do matter.
The Apostle Paul said that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of
God. We are hearing a message of hope, help, and healing from Barack Obama.

There is a huge difference between the two contenders'
runs for the White House: Hillary is a candidate and Obama is a movement.
Candidates eventually become bitter and insignificant whereas movements speak
to people at a heart level and inspire them to hope again. Movements break down
racial, social, political, educational, economic, and gender barriers.
Movements cut across metropolitan and rural areas. Movements transcend political
parties. Everything in this race portends to the fact that America is embracing
Obama's movement.

Augustus, the greatest of all the Roman
Emperors, strongly maintained a belief in premonitory signs. He had faith that
they helped him to realize his destiny. According to Suetonius, on a certain
New Year's Day, Cicero escorted Julius Caesar to the Capitol and happened to
tell his friends what he had dreamed the night before: a boy of noble features,
let down from heaven by a golden chain, stood at the Temple door, and was
handed a whip by Capitoline Jupiter. At that moment, Cicero's eye caught Augustus,
whom his great-uncle Caesar had brought to the ceremony but whom few of those
present knew by sight. Cicero cried: "There goes the very boy!" That boy went
from being Octavian Caesar to Augustus Caesar.

Fast forward! "There goes the movement!"
Everything from the last few primaries portends that Obama is a movement. You
want some signs that Obama is a movement? Hillary Clinton must win 57 percent
of the remaining primary and caucus delegates to erase Barack Obama's lead. Bad
omen! Listen to what David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager said to reporters
in a recent conference call, "The only way in this system to amass
delegates is to win by big margins. Close races result in close delegate
distribution." Bad omen! "The only way she can do it is winning
states like Ohio 65-35, Texas 65-35, Pennsylvania, you know, 70-30. She'd have
to win pretty much all the states, even states where we're considered to have
some strength," he added.

What about those so called superdelegates?
Hillary has failed to add any since Super Tuesday while Obama is slowly gaining
ground. In fact some superdelegates have switched from Hillary to Obama. Bad
omen! Listen to what Representative Ron Kid (D) from Wisconsin said, ""My
constituents overwhelmingly chose Barack Obama to be their nominee, and I am
proud to pledge my superdelegate vote to him as well."  Bad omen!

What is amazing to me about Obama's momentum is
how he is swaying voters that have been Clinton's core. He has steadily been
chipping away Clinton's base of blue-collar, older, working-class voters. Bad
omen! According to CNN in Wisconsin Obama captured 53 percent of that state's
white voters compared to 41 percent of those voting on Super Tuesday. He won 48
percent of women in Wisconsin compared to 41 percent on Super Tuesday. He
increased his standing with white seniors by 8 points, from 31 percent to 39
percent since Super Tuesday. He split the non-college-graduate vote 50-50 with
Clinton compared to getting 42 percent of it on Super Tuesday. Obama won almost
half of the Catholic vote compared to a third of it two weeks ago, and he did
the same thing with the rural vote. Bad omen!

CNN also noted that Obama also seems to be
taking the economy away from Clinton as an issue. He won 44 percent of those
voters who said that was the most important issue for them on Super Tuesday,
but he won 55 percent of those voters during the last Primary vote. Bad Omen!

While I admire the fact that the Imperial Romans
were big on omens and premonitions, I also admire the fact that when an Emperor
fell out of grace, someone close to him would utter an omen. Remember Bill
Clinton our beloved former President who was supposed to be Hillary's wildcard
in this race. Well ole' Bill hears the faint voice of the fat lady singing.
Bill Clinton uttered his omen a few Thursdays ago while he was campaigning for
his wife in Beaumont, Texas. "If she wins in Texas and Ohio I think she
will be the nominee," he said. "If you don't deliver for her then I
don't think she can. It's all on you." This is a very bad omen!

During antiquity, the city wall of Velitrae was
struck by lightning and the soothsayers prophesied that a native of the place
would one day rule the world. Many centuries later the world ruler indeed did
hail from that city and we know him today by one powerful name: Augustus.
Augustus became a movement while Mark Anthony was a candidate. Many years ago lightning
struck in Hawaii. The leader of the free world will come from Hawaii: Barack
Obama!

Why? Because Obama is causing Americans from all
walks of life to hope again. To quote Dee Dee Myers, former Press Secretary for
President Bill Clinton, "How do you run against hope?"