As the campaign progressed, endorsements came from a diverse group of individuals such as Oprah Winfrey, Caroline Kennedy, Tricia Nixon Cox, Maria Shriver, Senator Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy, and many others. The Iowa win and later South Carolina primary victory on January 19, galvanized support from what was rapidly becoming his base: youth, blacks, Hispanics, and the distressed white middle class, both rural and urban. However, it took his surprise victory over frontrunner, New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton, in the Iowa caucuses, on January 3, nearly one year later, to persuade political observers that the junior Senator from Illinois was a serious contender for the Presidency. Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech called for a house united not divided. Obama gave an initial insight into his presidential campaign philosophy by making his announcement at the same place that Abraham Lincoln, in 1852, gave his “House Divided” speech. On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama announced his candidacy at the Old State Capitol Building in Springfield, Illinois. Consequently Obama toured the nation to introduce himself to the electorate, wrote a best-selling book, The Audacity of Hope, to extend that introduction, and in January 2007, organized a presidential campaign committee. That speech before millions of American television viewers generated a resounding outpouring of national support.
Obama described himself as a post-civil rights, multi-cultural “Horatio Alger.” He rejected the left and the right divisiveness that had marred American politics for decades and in his rhetoric embraced a singular United States of America while laying claim to the values of hope and change for a better America. Many pundits refer to this speech as the one which placed Illinois State Senator Obama before the national electorate and where he established himself as a different type of black American politician. Senate from Illinois when he was invited to give the keynote address at the Democratic Convention in Boston. Obama was on his way to an easy victory in his campaign for the U.S. The origins of this “improbable” campaign, to use Obama’s words, can be traced to July 27, 2004. Professor Simba reminds us of the many challenges faced by the campaign as well as the daring and innovative strategies it successfully employed to make relative political newcomer Obama the 44th President of the United States.īarack Obama’s campaign for the Presidency in 2008 has been described by many political analysts as “brilliant” and “virtually flawless.” Despite his inexperience in national politics and limited experience in state politics (Obama was first elected to political office in 1994), he assembled a remarkably cohesive and effective “no drama” campaign team which in turn helped him craft and deliver his message of hope and change that ultimately resonated with the majority of American voters on election night, November 4, 2008. In the following account California State University, Fresno history professor Malik Simba summarizes the 2008 presidential campaign of Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
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