To be fair, I was one of the early converts. Back in 2004, even before his glorious speech at the Democratic National Convention, my wife brought him to my attention. I remember the moment clearly. It was a Thursday evening and I was headed to play flag football in the worst flag football league ever assembled by man. After picking up one of my teammates, my cell phone rang and upon answering, my wife immediately began recounting a speech she had just seen. It was hard to understand her since she kind of sounded like one of those girls you see screaming in the background whenever they show The Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. She was sure he was going to be President. As I hung up the phone my friend asked what that was all about. “My wife is about to leave me for some dude named Obama something-or-other,” I told him.
“Osama who?” he asked.
And so it went in this state for four years. Barack Obama became a rising star in American politics, was elected to the Senate by an astounding margin for a first time candidate, and by the Iowa caucuses of 2008, he looked like the only chance of slaying the Clinton juggernaut. Meanwhile, Oklahomans generally thought of him as that black guy running for President. Or, if they were anything like my Grandpa, they thought he was Arab.
It seems like the state is coming around. (Not in time for our Super Tuesday primary, mind you, in which Hillary got something like 75% of the vote.) In the past few weeks, while Obama was dealing with Clinton’s “kitchen sink” strategy in the run up to the Pennsylvania primary, the news out of Oklahoma has been all good for him.
While most of the Democratic “Super-Delegates” from this state sat on their hands and waited until their vote was meaningless to cast their lot, the ice began to crack when Reggie Witten and Kitti Asberry pledged their support to Obama at the National Convention. What the two lack in name recognition, they made up for in momentum building.
On the heels of Witten’s pledge, OU President/Former-powerful-Senator-and-Governor/current-father-of-a-superdelegate David Boren not only pledged his vote to Senator Obama, but agreed to serve the Obama campaign as a foreign policy adviser. This is doubly good news as it probably means that President Boren will likely be lacking time to write letter to the NCAA.
This opened up the biggest news to date out of Oklahoma. This morning, Governor Brad Henry became the biggest endorsement to come out of this state. Henry, as a popular, twice elected moderate Democratic governor, is a huge get. Making it even more gargantuan is that Henry is also a “super delegate.” And the icing on the cake is that this means a Barry Switzer endorsement is bound to be on the way.
In other Oklahoma/Obama news: It is clear that Barack, despite a friendly relationship with our junior Senator, agrees with The Lost Ogle’s assessment of Tom Coburn. At the most recent debate, when asked why Obama had not bothered to crucify a former “Weather Underground” member he met on a subway * , Obama said:
And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn’t make much sense, George.
The fact is that I’m also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who, during his campaign, once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions.
Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn’s statements? Because I certainly don’t agree with those, either.
In other words: “I know whack jobs from all along the political spectrum, I can’t denounce them all.”
* Note: I’m perfectly aware that Obama served on the board for a charitable organization with Bill Ayers, but I would hardly call them best friends based on that.
Hooray for Henry! Obama in ‘08.
I don’t think he can muster the stuff to beat Mc Cain,but that’s me.
This election cycle reminds me of the NFL in the late ’80s/early ’90s. Back then, the NFC playoffs were ferocious and the two best teams in the league (usually Dallas and San Francisco) battled in the NFC championship game. Then, the Superbowl came around and everyone talked themselves into believing Buffalo or Denver would have a shot because their run to the big game was so much easier. Then the best part of the game was the commercials because the Cowboys/49ers just annihilated them.
I think i could commit to buying John McCain his very own Jim Kelly jersey to wear…
Obama must be a lock if Governor Lite is throwing his endorsement in there.
He’s even less of a risk taker than the formerly chubby fellow in Norman.
Can you smell what Barack is cookin!
mccain will still win it…
How-
he will get the “old people” vote.
he will get the military vote
he will get the sexist vote (if Hillary)
he will get the racist vote (if Obama.
I read an article recently that suggests the military vote might be throwing itself behind the anti-war candidate.
Personally, I think the sexist and racist vote was going to be hard for the Democrats to pick up, anyway.
Without the evangelical vote, which is not excited about McCain, I have trouble seeing a Republican elected.
Wow, you guys need to stick to what you know, because politics and predicting elections is certainly not in your wheelhouse.
No kidding right…Mccain is still ahead of both in the polls by double digits.
Um, Bosley, I don’t know which polls you are looking at. McCain is virtually tied with either Democratic candidate in most of the polls and has been behind either of them for most of the last three months. He’s only pulled even because they are beating up on each other so much. Once the Democratic nominee is picked, McCain is done for. I think he may actually be a worse candidate than Bob Dole was.
You never know, McCain might actually suggest policy different than the current, wildly unpopular, President and pull it off. To date, he offers no difference economically, may be even more of a hawk internationally, and his two “Maverick” positions (campaign finance and earmarks — the former he worked with Obama on and the latter issue has seen reform sponsored by Obama with Coburn) are issues that are mainly of interest in the Beltway.
Then again, McCain can seize the Social Security issue as his, since he is the only candidate running who is also a recipient.
Bosley says:
No kidding right…Mccain is still ahead of both in the polls by double digits.
Uh…Bosley…when it’s that kind of polls it’s spelled “poles” and there are strippers wrapped around them.
I’m glad you guys caught the scarcasm in my voice. Mccain at one point in time was ahead of Obama by 8 points and clinton by 11. I hope a democrat wins this so they can take credit for the tanking US economy,claim everytime there is a hurricane its global warmings fault (if they could blame earthquakes on global warming they would, democrats:global warming as republicans:gay marriage) then put into motion a bunch of socialized programs to make the economy worse. Maybe we can create some kind of new social security program, we all know what a great long term idea that was.
My point is, the next president is going to be a democrat and anyone that thinks they can stop China and india from burning the worlds oil reserve, thinks they can keep the american people from spending money they dont have, thinks they can get away with China NOT buying our T-bills and furthering our national debt, and somehow fix our healthcare system without raising taxes 18% over 10 years is thick.
::semi-rant over::
Bosley, that may rank in the “too serious”(and too true) column on this board. I’m going to call for a ruling on that.