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Iowa: About As Good As One Could Have Hoped For |
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In my view, the results of the Iowa caucuses give progressives a lot to be happy about.
I have nothing against Hillary Clinton personally. When the race began, and I was still living in Senegal, I remember telling Senegalese friends that I was excited by the prospect of her candidacy. But as I learned more about her stances, I decided that she was not, in the end, a progressive candidate. At her best, what she offers voters is a return to the 1990s - or rather, a vision of centrist Democratic politics that is considerably watered down from that era. I think we can do better than that.
Barack Obama’s win in Iowa encourages me, not because he is my candidate but because I think he and John Edwards both represent ideologies and styles that would better suit America than what Clinton offers. I have been torn between Edwards and Obama for months now, and what Chris Bowers says about the blogosphere in general applies in large measure to me:
Many prominent bloggers said they favored Edwards toward the end of the campaign, and a similar pro-Edwards trend was found in blogosphere straw polls. Three weeks ago, Edwards and Obama were essentially tied in terms of support on Daily Kos, but things broke heavily for Edwards at the end. The main reason, as far as I can tell, was because many of us in the blogosphere finally decided that we liked the anti-corporate rhetoric coming from Edwards, and didn’t like the occasional right-wing talking point coming from Obama.
However, Obama, as Bowers and others have pointed out, has shown himself to be receptive to certain pressures from the left, suggesting he can be that progressive candidate we are hungry for. I also believe he can win a national election: he projects a statesmanlike dignity and gravitas that no Republican candidate possesses in equal measure. Envisioning Obama in the White House gives me some of that much-discussed “hope”: trying saying “President Obama” out loud, and perhaps you’ll see what I mean. I can also picture Obama as a true world leader, someone able to move our foreign policy in a genuinely new direction. Additionally, I think his election in itself would lead some foreign countries to rethink their attitudes toward America.
Regarding John Edwards, I see no reason why he and his supporters should not be pleased with tonight’s outcome. Though many obviously hoped he would win, I think that a second-place finish gives his candidacy new vigor. Hopefully the media will give him some real coverage now.
Looking at the Republican field, I see disarray despite Huckabee’s clear victory. I do not think Huckabee will win New Hampshire. Romney’s candidacy has not yet run its course, and neither has McCain’s (shockingly…maybe once folks catch on that he’s 72, they’ll stop taking him so seriously). In any event, if Huckabee is nominated, I think progressives should be happy, though wary. Huckabee is an extremely effective speaker, and he is funny and charming. But he is also ignorant, easily attacked, and lacks, again, the kind of dignity that Obama brings to the table.
On to New Hampshire!
What are your thoughts?
