FDL Book Salon Welcomes Earl Ofari Hutchinson: How Obama Won

Like most Americans, Barack Obama first entered my consciousness with his keynote speech at the 2004 DNC Convention. Maybe it was the exultation of hearing for the first time the soaring rhetoric for which he has become so famous, made all that much more amazing in contrast to the painful chewing of words and malapropisms of George W. Bush. Maybe it was that Barack Obama appealed to the intelligence and altruism of his listeners rather than shutting it down in the monotone lecturings of then-candidate John Kerry. Maybe it was a little bit of both and more. Whatever the cause, the speech was electrifying and I’m sure that I was not the only person sitting saying “If this country ever elects an African American for president, it’s going to be Barack Obama.”

Sadly, I had little faith in my fellow Americans actually ever coming to the point of electing an African American. Boy, how wrong I was. Just over two years later, on the Springfield steps where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous “House Divided” speech, Barack Obama threw his hat in the Presidential ring. Never let it be said that Republicans are the only ones who understand the art of political stagecraft. And in a brutal eighteen-month race, Barack Obama steadily campaigned against his more seasoned, more well-known rivals. The odds were against him, as his rivals had much less baggage (Rev. Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, Muslim father, Kenyan relatives, all political liabilities according to conventional wisdom) and the mainstream media had a demonstrated eagerness to milk scandals. Yet, one by one, all of them fell by the wayside until improbably, historically and triumphantly, Barack Obama was elected the 44^th President of the United States.

How did he achieve this remarkable feat? How did Barack Obama overcome centuries of institutionalized racism, a media that had presumptively given the Democratic nomination (without the benefit of a single election, mind you) to Hillary Clinton and then bent over backwards for Republican nominee John McCain? How did he make red state Americans look past his skin color to actually win those red states that haven’t seen Democratic victories in decades? How did he overcome the media-enabled right wing efforts to scare Americans by insinuating that Obama was a “secret terrorist”, not a “real” Christian because of his membership in Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity UCC, not American, actually a Muslim, et cetera, et cetera? Earl Ofari Hutchinson looks at this against all odds story in his new book, How Obama Won .

Hutchinson’s theses on Obama’s win—published originally as a series of posts at Huffington Post– actually runs counterintuitively to conventional wisdom (or, at least the “wisdom” of the pundit class—but then again, look how often they’ve been right on the economic crisis). Hutchinson posits that race was not a factor in Obama’s win, nor were the Iraq war and terrorism. Further, rival John McCain’s candidacy was sunk by his choice of running mate in Sarah Palin, his inability to win over the ultra-conservatives in the Republican party and his flat-footed but ultimately ineffectual response to the sinking economy, helping propel Barack Obama to his historic victory. But even the missteps of McCain can’t answer entirely for the victory. Obama utilized new media, grassroots organizing, massive fundraising and confronting of issues in an honest and humanized way to overcome obstacles that have felled other candidates.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson has been writing about politics, social and racial issues for many years. He is a frequent guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation and PBS’s Lehrer Report as well as several Fox News shows and a contributor to The Huffington Post and BlackAmericaWeb.com. He is the author of many books, including Betrayed: The Presidential Failure to Protect Black Lives and Black Fatherhood: The Guide to Male Parenting, and serves as the President of the National Alliance for Positive Action.

Please join me in welcoming Earl Ofari Hutchinson to the ‘Lake to discuss How Obama Won.

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