The New Generation Of Banging Hardtechno

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The candi dates in 2008 reflected broad trends in American life that also were affect98 BArACk OBAMA ing the nation’s schools, work places, and neighborhoods. The civil rights and feminist movements, the influx of immigrants from Latin America and Asia, and more public discussion of what were typically prohibitive topics such as divorce, mixed marriage, gay marriage, and abortion were causing the rules to be rewritten about who could be elected president. According to a March 2007 article in USA Today, a USA Today/Gallup Poll found that one in five Americans were “completely comfortable” with all of the breakthrough traits represented by the leading contenders in the 2008 field. Nearly a third had reservations about the candidates. The article notes that many voters wouldn’t necessarily support a candidate that looks like them; that women were no more likely than men to be comfortable voting for a woman, and women over 50 were among the most skeptical of all. As well, blacks were no more likely than whites to be com fortable voting for a black, and seniors were less likely than the middleaged to be comfortable voting for a 72yearold to become president. Overall, the author states that four times as many Americans expressed concerns about a candidate’s age than they did about race, religion, or gender. Sociologist robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, stated that, in the United States, barriers still exist, but they don’t necessarily have the same meaning as even a decade ago. “Because people are exposed to dif ferent races, ethnicities and sexual orientations in their workplace, in their neighborhoods, in their communities, they are much more comfortable . . . what used to make them raise their eyebrows now makes them shrug their shoulders.”3 A halfcentury ago, a significant number of Americans said in a Gallup Poll that they wouldn’t vote for a generally qualified candidate for president if the candidate was Catholic, Jewish, female, black, or an atheist. According to the USA Today/Gallup Poll of March 2007, this kind of resistance had plummeted but had not vanished. Now, according to the poll, 1 in 10 say they wouldn’t vote for a woman or a Hispanic candidate, and 1 in 20 say they wouldn’t vote for a black, Jewish, or Catholic candi date. 4 What these opinions and poll results suggest and what their impact would be on the Barack Obama campaign remained to be seen. But with full knowledge of these trends, and with an enormous amount of personal courage and confidence, calling himself the candidate for the common man, Barack and his team moved forward. After his announcement in Springfield, Illinois, Barack left for Iowa to jumpstart his campaign. The seven Democratic opponents were for midable, and Barack wasted no time hitting the campaign trail, knowing he needed to quickly convey his message. His opponents included Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, representative Dennis kucinich from Ohio, former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who ran for vice president THE CAMPAIGN FOr THE PrESIDENCY 99 with John kerry in 2004, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, and the governor of New Mexico, Bill richardson. Nearly everyone in the field of candidates, except for Clinton, was deemed to have more experience in national politics, all serving in various capaci ties, including in the U.S. House of representatives, the U.S. Senate, the United Nations, as ambassadors, and, in the case of richardson, as the incumbent governor of New Mexico. Barack was determined to use all of his experience, including his years in state politics and the two years as a U.S. senator, as an asset, disregarding claims that he didn’t have enough experience to be president. He was ready for the questions about his lack of foreign policy and global affairs experience; he was ready for his life and his family to be scrutinized. And he was ready to use his public persona, his eloquence, and his ability to fire up a crowd to his advantage. Barack also knew that he couldn’t use only his many attributes to con vince voters. He had to have a clear message with clear answers.