Call me crazy, but the more I volunteer for the Obama campaign and talk to Obama supporters the more historical my thoughts become.
Talking to a historian of American politics about the Obama campaign, I made reference to the John F. Kennedy evocations. My friend said,"This isn't like JFK, John Kennedy was very cool and reserved on the campaign trail. This is like Bobby.
Of course this was late in the primaries, before the "Celebrity" Ad, the questioning of Barack Obama's patriotism, the Sarah Palin Confidence Game, or lipstick on a pig. So the polls subsequently have changed and a lot of us are worried.
We keep thinking about Dukakis' loss in 1988 despite being up by 17 points before the DNC convention, Gore's state jacking by G. W. Bush and John Kerry.
However, I have started thinking about another assumed Democratic loser, whose reputation has since been resurrected.
Harry Truman was all but counted out in the 1948 Presidential election. Despite being the successful successor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He had little preparation as the Vice President (Gov. Palin this does not mean you, yet brought WW II to an end. Despite this, Truman deeply unpopular among the elites of the Democrats in his party, under assault from various factions within his party and up against a more popular opponent in Thomas Dewey who
. . . appeared unbeatable. Top Republicans believed that all their candidate had to do to win was to avoid major mistakes; in keeping with this advice, Dewey carefully avoided risks. He spoke in platitudes, avoided controversial issues, and was vague on what he planned to do as President. Speech after speech was filled with non-political, optimistic assertions of the obvious, including the now infamous quote "You know that your future is still ahead of you."
Abandoned by the mainstream Democratic Party, assaulted by the Progressive Party and vilified by the Dixiecrats, Truman stepped up his ground game, took to the road and initiated his Whistle stop Tour. Hamlet to village to town to city, Truman stepped out on countless train platforms and talked to the people, boldly stating his case eye to eye with the American voter. Asking his listeners I wonder how many times you have to be hit on the head before you find out who's hitting you? It's about time that the people of America realized what the Republicans have been doing to them. Truman did the actual political work of arguing his case. I believe we are in similar times. In the face of the McCain edition of the Kitchen Sink strategy and the Republican's, "if you can't convince em', confuse em'" philosphy, I see huge leaps in Democratic voter registration Obama's campaign is consciously
bringing millions of new voters into the process and shaky poll numbers that are sending Democrats into a tizzy.
I don't think this will be a year like recent Democratic years. I, like Sir Salman Rushdie, am thinking the huge surge in Democratic affiliation, the electrification of young people and the Democratic base and the fact that pollsters are debating the polling limits in regard to cell phone users we may be heading toward another historical shocker. I leave you with some courage from Harry Truman himself from his 1948 Address at Dexter, Iowa, on the Occasion of the National Plowing Match
Our intentions are made clear by our deeds. In this 20th century, every great step forward has come during Democratic administrations of the National Government. Every movement backward has come under Republican auspices, and it is the people who have paid dearly for these reactionary moves.
Too much is now at stake--here and throughout the world--to take the wrong path now.
There is one way to stop the forces of reaction.
Get every vote out on election day, and make it count. You can't afford to waste your votes this year.
I'm not asking you just to vote for me. Vote for yourselves! Vote for your farms! Vote for the standard of living that you have won under a Democratic administration!
Get out there on election day, and vote for your future!