Let me first say, the reality of this has yet to sink in. That will require much more deep breathing.
But before the immediacy of this event fades, I just want to comment on the incredible arc of this man's campaign. Number one, Iowa changed everything. The combination of Obama on top, Edwards in the middle, and Clinton lagging in third was the most surprising outcome, and his opponents never really overcame that stunning defeat. Edwards was a foregone conclusion after Iowa. The arrogance of Clinton's "inevitability" argument was exposed, and it forced her to fall back on her arguments of experience, a softer side to Hillary, and other predictable political scare tactics. These arguments, while compelling individually, made for a confusing mix when launched in concert.
That being said, the Hillary-Obama matchup was a much more spirited, scrappy, tough, focused campaign than the obnoxious and nettlesome tit-for-tat between Obama and McCain. Hillary probably did Democrats -- and the country -- a huge favor by airing the Reverend Wright attacks early. This was Obama's greatest test; he overcame it with grace. It also stole the fireworks from the Republicans, since re-hashing old campaign character assassinations would've seemed crassly desperate in the guts of many voters. If Reverend Wright had come out during the general election, it would have been much scarier, with the very real possibility of violence and/or a deeper Republican backlash. It may be that John McCain's decision not to use Reverend Wright did end up saving his party and/or his country. But after the economic crisis, it was over. With 62% of voters saying the economy was their number one issue, the incumbent Republican party was bound for defeat.
I think, with the benefit of hindsight, we will see that African-Americans won Obama the primary, and younger voters/College-educated whites won him the general election. This is the new governing coalition -- the resurrection of the Civil Rights movement, combined with the multi-ethnic, post-partisanship of a new modern American generation.
This is the future. A beautiful thing. Get used to it.
