Obama Forms Presidential Exploratory Committee

Barrack Hussein Obama described himself at the 2004 Democratic election as a kid with a funny name. However, it’s a name about which the entire American electorate is going to hear a great deal in the next year or so. Yesterday, he filed the legal papers required to form a Presidential Exploratory Committee, the first step in running for the presidency. Whether he wins the nomination or not, whether he becomes President #44 or not, he is already shaping the debate.

Hands down going away, Hillary Rodham Clinton is the front-runner for the Democratic nod in 2008, largely because she’s got her husband’s contacts, she has her own successes as New York’s junior senator and because no one else has much name recognition. At the same time, she’s got negative numbers that are stupefying. Someone once said that she reminds every man in America of his first wife. According to Gallup polls, 51% of Americans view her favorably and 44% unfavorably. In political campaigns, moving folks out of the negative column borders on the impossible.

And because this is America, land of competition as entertainment, the media insist on another candidate so there can be a horse-race at least through the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary. Senator Obama makes a good “not Hillary” candidate, largely because he is truly distinct from her. A close look reveals that they are both lawyers and on the left of the political spectrum (at least what passes for left in the USA), but campaigns rarely get to close looks.

Because he has been selected by the media as a story, he gets face time to tell his version of the story. Born in Hawaii to a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, he grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia, graduated from Columbia University and earned a Harvard Law degree. He isn’t the typical used-car salesman politician with an eye for the chance, and he knows how to use his atypical story to his advantage.

In announcing his move, he said,

. . . it’s not the magnitude of our problems that concerns me the most. It’s the smallness of our politics. America’s faced big problems before. But today, our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, common sense way. 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. 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. This won’t happen by itself. A change in our politics can only come from you; from people across our country who believe there’s a better way and are willing to work for it. Years ago, as a community organizer in Chicago, I learned that meaningful change always begins at the grassroots, and that engaged citizens working together can accomplish extraordinary things. So even in the midst of the enormous challenges we face today, I have great faith and hope about the future - because I believe in you.