A new generation
Obama is now the presumed Democratic nominee. I am glad that the Democratic race has ended but there are some very positive lessons that came from having a campaign go that long. I can't help but look at the positive side.
There certainly needs to be some changes about how the candidates are elected while still engaging every American who is interesting in being heard with their vote. That is the one positive thing that came out of this long campaign. In the past, there were many states where the voice of their people was irrelevant because the presumed candidate was already chosen. In this race, the candidates had to make their case state by state because each state and each vote counted. People all over America became engaged. Young people got excited. People who have never had anyone knock on their door asking for their vote were all of a sudden engaged in a national election. After most Americans have been asleep at the wheel (think why in the hell George Bush was given the nod a second time around) all of a sudden they were engaged. That is a positive thing.
I was a fan of Hillary at the beginning because I truly felt that her experience made her the better candidate. Yet, at the end of the day, I am all business. Watching the long drawn out process, it was apparent to me, that Obama ran a fantastic campaign and Hillary didn't. That says something about the candidate.
We are living in a very transparent time. McCain and Hillary are living in a world that doesn't really exist anymore. You hear it in their speeches. Obama is about hope and change while Hillary and McCain are all about business as usual. Hillary didn't win because she was a woman and America wasn't ready for that. Hillary lost because she didn't run a great campaign. She ran with an air of entitlement that she deserved to win this race and in turn ran her campaign that way. Her voice was one of running the same business just like her husband did 8 years ago. The business has changed. She did not look to the future and the America we live in now. History is to be learned from not repeated.
Maybe not the best analogy but when I was at Macy's years ago, Ed Finkelstein was the President. He was brilliant. He created the cellar and transformed the organization. At one point, he went down a path that led to the bankruptcy of Macy's. His magic and forward thinking was brilliant at one point of time but he couldn't read the next generation. Very few CEO's can. Our country elects a new President every four years. Forward thinking from our forefathers.
Granted that I am and have always been a Democrat but as the race between Obama and McCain unfolds, my gut tells me that Obama will continue to run his campaign like he did against Hillary and he will be the next President of the United States. He understands the world we live in today. McCain gives speeches that he might have gotten away with 20 years ago but with the Internet, he can't get away with anything but absolute truth. We can all see on You Tube that McCain embraced Bush after Katrina, that he supported Bush's war and every other thing he said or did through out his career because it is on every home computer. There are bloggers jumping on the bag wagon every time someone commits a faux pas. That is a very different world than the world that John McCain understands and funny enough, his staff doesn't get it either.
We are living an Internet life in a flat world where America is no longer king. Obama gets it. McCain does not.