Obamamajority

9:45 pm EST May 20th, 2008 | News | 21 Comments

Yes. He can. He did. And he will.

Despite Hillary Clinton’s landslide victory in Kentucky, Barack Obama has won a majority of pledged delegates in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Clinton won Kentucky by more than 30 points, but Obama’s share of the state’s 51 delegates was enough put him over the threshold, according to CNN estimates.

Obama is expected to pick up at least 14 delegates in Kentucky, and by CNN estimates, that will give him 1,627 of the 3,253 pledged delegates at stake in all of primaries and caucuses.

Video of Sen. Obama speaking in Iowa:

Topic: President Obama

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21 Responses to “Obamamajority”

Duros62 says:

May 20, 2008 at 9:59 pm

Sorry to suck up your bandwidth, Ollie, but I thought some of our resident doubting Thomas’ might like to see what a Presidential speech looks like.

You know, there is a spirit that brought us here tonight – a spirit of change, and hope, and possibility. And there are few people in this country who embody that spirit more than our friend and our champion, Senator Edward Kennedy. He has spent his life in service to this country not for the sake of glory or recognition, but because he cares – deeply, in his gut – about the causes of justice, and equality, and opportunity. So many of us here have benefited in some way or another because of the battles he’s waged, and some of us are here because of them.

We know he is not well right now, but we also know that he’s a fighter. And as he takes on this fight, let us lift his spirits tonight by letting Ted Kennedy know that we are thinking of him, that we are praying for him, that we are standing with him, and that we will be fighting with him every step of the way.

Fifteen months ago, in the depths of winter, it was in this great state where we took the first steps of an unlikely journey to change America.

The skeptics predicted we wouldn’t get very far. The cynics dismissed us as a lot of hype and a little too much hope. And by the fall, the pundits in Washington had all but counted us out.

But the people of Iowa had a different idea.

From the very beginning, you knew that this journey wasn’t about me or any of the other candidates in this race. It’s about whether this country – at this defining moment – will continue down the same road that has failed us for so long, or whether we will seize this opportunity to take a different path – to forge a different future for the country we love.

That is the question that sent thousands upon thousands of you to high school gyms and VFW halls; to backyards and front porches; to steak fries and JJ dinners, where you spoke about what that future would look like.

You spoke of an America where working families don’t have to file for bankruptcy just because a child gets sick; where they don’t lose their home because some predatory lender tricks them out of it; where they don’t have to sit on the sidelines of the global economy because they couldn’t afford the cost of a college education. You spoke of an America where our parents and grandparents don’t spend their retirement in poverty because some CEO dumped their pension – an America where we don’t just value wealth, but the work and the workers who create it.

You spoke of an America where we don’t send our sons and daughters on tour after tour of duty to a war that has cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars but has not made us safer. You spoke of an America where we match the might of our military with the strength of our diplomacy and the power of our ideals – a nation that is still the beacon of all that is good and all that is possible for humankind.

You spoke of a future where the politics we have in Washington finally reflect the values we hold as Americans – the values you live by here in Iowa: common sense and honesty; generosity and compassion; decency and responsibility. These values don’t belong to one class or one region or even one party – they are the values that bind us together as one country.

That is the country I saw in the faces of crowds that would stretch far into the horizon of our heartland – faces of every color, of every age – faces I see here tonight. You are Democrats who are tired of being divided; Republicans who no longer recognize the party that runs Washington; Independents who are hungry for change. You are the young people who’ve been inspired for the very first time and those not-so-young folks who’ve been inspired for the first time in a long time. You are veterans and church-goers; sportsmen and students; farmers and factory workers; teachers and business owners who have varied backgrounds and different traditions, but the same simple dreams for your children’s future.

Many of you have been disappointed by politics and politicians more times than you can count. You’ve seen promises broken and good ideas drown in the sea of influence, and point-scoring, and petty bickering that has consumed Washington. And you’ve been told over and over and over again to be cynical, and doubtful, and even fearful about the possibility that things can ever be different.

And yet, in spite of all the doubt and disappointment – or perhaps because of it – you came out on a cold winter’s night in numbers that this country has never seen, and you stood for change. And because you did, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And tonight, in the fullness of spring, with the help of those who stood up from Portland to Louisville, we have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people, and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

The road here has been long, and that is partly because we’ve traveled it with one of the most formidable candidates to ever run for this office. In her thirty-five years of public service, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has never given up on her fight for the American people, and tonight I congratulate her on her victory in Kentucky. We have had our disagreements during this campaign, but we all admire her courage, her commitment and her perseverance. No matter how this primary ends, Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and yours will come of age.

Some may see the millions upon millions of votes cast for each of us as evidence that our party is divided, but I see it as proof that we have never been more energized and united in our desire to take this country in a new direction. More than anything, we need this unity and this energy in the months to come, because while our primary has been long and hard-fought, the hardest and most important part of our journey still lies ahead.

We face an opponent, John McCain, who arrived in Washington nearly three decades ago as a Vietnam War hero, and earned an admirable reputation for straight talk and occasional independence from his party.

But this year’s Republican primary was a contest to see which candidate could out-Bush the other, and that is the contest John McCain won. The Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans that once bothered Senator McCain’s conscience are now his only economic policy. The Bush health care plan that only helps those who are already healthy and wealthy is now John McCain’s answer to the 47 million Americans without insurance and the millions more who can’t pay their medical bills. The Bush Iraq policy that asks everything of our troops and nothing of Iraqi politicians is John McCain’s policy too, and so is the fear of tough and aggressive diplomacy that has left this country more isolated and less secure than at any time in recent history. The lobbyists who ruled George Bush’s Washington are now running John McCain’s campaign, and they actually had the nerve to say that the American people won’t care about this. Talk about out of touch!

I will leave it up to Senator McCain to explain to the American people whether his policies and positions represent long-held convictions or Washington calculations, but the one thing they don’t represent is change.

Change is a tax code that rewards work instead of wealth by cutting taxes for middle-class families, and senior citizens, and struggling homeowners; a tax code that rewards businesses that create good jobs here in America instead of the corporations that ship them overseas. That’s what change is.

Change is a health care plan that guarantees insurance to every American who wants; that brings down premiums for every family who needs it; that stops insurance companies from discriminating and denying coverage to those who need it most.

Change is an energy policy that doesn’t rely on buddying up to the Saudi Royal Family and then begging them for oil – an energy policy that puts a price on pollution and makes the oil companies invest their record profits in clean, renewable sources of energy that will create five million new jobs and leave our children a safer planet. That’s what change is.

Change is giving every child a world-class education by recruiting an army of new teachers with better pay and more support; by promising four years of tuition to any American willing to serve their community and their country; by realizing that the best education starts with parents who turn off the TV, and take away the video games, and read to our children once in awhile.

Change is ending a war that we never should’ve started and finishing a war against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan that we never should’ve ignored. Change is facing the threats of the twenty-first century not with bluster, or fear-mongering, or tough talk, but with tough diplomacy, and strong alliances, and confidence in the ideals that have made this nation the last, best hope of Earth. That is the legacy of Roosevelt, and Truman, and Kennedy.

That is what change is.

That is the choice in this election.

The same question that first led us to Iowa fifteen months ago is the one that has brought us back here tonight; it is the one we will debate from Washington to Florida, from New Hampshire to New Mexico – the question of whether this country, at this moment, will keep doing what we’ve been doing for four more years, or whether we will take that different path. It is more of the same versus change. It is the past versus the future. It has been asked and answered by generations before us, and now it is our turn to choose.

We will face our share of difficult and uncertain days in the journey ahead. The other side knows they have embraced yesterday’s policies and so they will also embrace yesterday’s tactics to try and change the subject. They will play on our fears and our doubts and our divisions to distract us from what matters to you and your future.

Well they can take the low road if they want, but it will not lead this country to a better place. And it will not work in this election. It won’t work because you won’t let it. Not this time. Not this year.

My faith in the decency, and honesty, and generosity of the American people is not based on false hope or blind optimism, but on what I have lived and what I have seen in this very state.

For in the darkest days of this campaign, when we were dismissed by all the polls and all the pundits, I would come to Iowa and see that there was something happening here that the world did not yet understand.

It’s what led high school and college students to give up their vacations to stuff envelopes and knock on doors, and why grandparents have spent all their afternoons making phone calls to perfect strangers. It’s what led men and women who can barely pay the bills to dig into their savings and write five dollar checks and ten dollar checks, and why young people from all over this country have left their friends and their families for a job that offers little pay and less sleep.

Change is coming to America.

It’s the spirit that sent the first patriots to Lexington and Concord and led the defenders of freedom to light the way north on an Underground Railroad. It’s what sent my grandfather’s generation to beachheads in Normandy, and women to Seneca Falls, and workers to picket lines and factory fences. It’s what led all those young men and women who saw beatings and billy clubs on their television screens to leave their homes, and get on buses, and march through the streets of Selma and Montgomery – black and white, rich and poor.

Change is coming to America.

It’s what I saw all those years ago on the streets of Chicago when I worked as an organizer – that in the face of joblessness, and hopelessness, and despair, a better day is still possible if there are people willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it. That’s what I’ve seen here in Iowa. That’s what is happening in America – our journey may be long, our work will be great, but we know in our hearts we are ready for change, we are ready to come together, and in this election, we are ready to believe again. Thank you Iowa, and may God Bless America.
Scratch says:

May 21, 2008 at 12:19 am

Oliver, I think it’s interesting that you seem to be completely ignoring the fact that the voters of West Virginia AND Kentucky have quite clearly stated their preference in this race…and it ain’t Obama.
jojo says:

May 21, 2008 at 12:45 am

ObaMAjority. Only one “MA” makes it flow better.
Oliver Willis says:

May 21, 2008 at 12:52 am

WV and Kentucky have voted for Sen. Obama. Neither party has had a primary/caucus year without an incumbent where one candidate won every contest. John Kerry rapidly won the nomination in 2004 and even he lost some states. This year, John McCain lost quite a few contests. Sen. Obama leads in popular vote and delegates and states won. I’m not worried that some Appalachian regions that don’t vote Democratic in recent history aren’t voting for Obama.
Scratch says:

May 21, 2008 at 6:46 am

Again with the myopia.

Though Obama may have more pledge delegates, more committed super delegates, more votes, more caucus victories, and more of everything else that the “system” apportions according to the “rules,” Hillary is clearly the better candidate. West Virginia and Kentucky proved that. And I have a very strong feeling that she is going to ride that momentum straight into the White House.
Scratch says:

May 21, 2008 at 6:50 am

But seriously, I see very little difference between Clinton’s tactics now and the tactics of a candidate who would continue campaigning after losing the general election, on the theory that the electors could vote for whomever they wish when the electoral college meets. She even went so far as to point out that even the pledged delegates could vote however they wanted to at the convention. Of course, they can, but expecting them to vote for you when you have lost the election is the desperate hope of a pathetic, delusional loser.

To use a popular buzzword, I think Hillary is tarnishing her brand with this nonsense.
SaveFarris says:

May 21, 2008 at 7:21 am

The only state Kerry lost after effectively wrapping up the nomination was North Carolina: Edwards home. The number of states McCain has lost since wrapping up: zero.

If Obama was losing Arkansas and New York at this point, it wouldn’t be that big a deal. But he’s losing swing states. And that’s a problem.

Oh, and last night’s spectacle was based entirely on the premise that Michigan and Florida don’t count. So you can go ahead and kiss those 44 electoral votes goodbye. Add that to Obama’s weakness in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia and remind me how on earth he gets to 270.
Vanessa says:

May 21, 2008 at 8:32 am

SaveFarris,

You suggest that Obama supporters should be worried for their candidate. Somehow, I’m not.

I think you protest too much.
david says:

May 21, 2008 at 8:41 am

Isn’t that that skanky Jessica Alba holding up that sign?
Kevin says:

May 21, 2008 at 8:47 am

It is now the super delegates who are hurting the party.

If everyone is going to sit around until the convention, that will leave only 8 weeks to campaign against John McCain.

Dems have an overwhelming advantage right now, but we need a unified party to press the attack.

Super delegates who are not moving to settle on a nominee NOW are leaving open the possibility that the Dems could still screw this up.
Dr. Victor Davis Handjob says:

May 21, 2008 at 9:12 am

“Add that to Obama’s weakness in Ohio, Pennsylvania”

He’s ahead of McCain in both those places. He’s going to win VA and CO, too, mark my words.
Repack Rider says:

May 21, 2008 at 9:26 am

Gosh Farris, your concern for Mr. Obama is touching. Since you are so worried for him, what have you done to help him?

He’s going to be the nominee, so don’t get your knickers in a twist that Hillary is going to come from 20 lengths behind in the last five yards.

Do you have any thoughts on what will happen when McCain stands next to Obama on a debate stage, and looks old, short, confused and inarticulate?
Dr. Victor Davis Handjob says:

May 21, 2008 at 9:45 am

“Add that to Obama’s weakness in Ohio, Pennsylvania”

Obama’s polling ahead of McCain in both those places. Let’s also remember that, contrary to the simplistic portrayal of the issue by the media, Obama is doing *better* among working-class whites than either Gore or Kerry did.
Scratch says:

May 21, 2008 at 10:26 am

“Inarticulate”…isn’t that a forbidden code word?
Oliver Willis says:

May 21, 2008 at 10:36 am

Yeah, as others have noted your “concern” for Obama is noted. Back here on earth, while she is losing, Sen. Clinton is more serious opposition to Obama than McCain currently faces (though McCain has trouble with 10-15% of the GOP electorate with nobody actively campaigning against him) or that Kerry faced. Obama is facing fading, yet active opposition and winning. Nobody is opposing McCain and he’s still not sealing the deal.

Your concern seems… misplaced.
Dr. Victor Davis Handjob says:

May 21, 2008 at 11:03 am

“Add that to Obama’s weakness in Ohio, Pennsylvania”

He’s polling ahead of McCain in both those places. Plus he’s going to win Virginia and Colorado, mark my words.
Dr. Victor Davis Handjob says:

May 21, 2008 at 11:04 am

“Add that to Obama’s weakness in Ohio, Pennsylvania”

Obama’s polling ahead of McCain in both those places. Plus he’s doing better in the white working class than Kerry and Gore did. Plus he’s going to win Colorado and Virginia — mark my words.
Sean D. Martin says:

May 21, 2008 at 11:23 am

Kevin: Super delegates who are not moving to settle on a nominee NOW are leaving open the possibility that the Dems could still screw this up.

Alas, typical of Democrats. “But if I take a stand I might offend someone, or someone might be mad at me. Better I should stay on the fence as long as possible until it’s clear which way things are going. That’s how you lead.”
Dr. Victor Davis Handjob says:

May 21, 2008 at 11:28 am

“Add that to Obama’s weakness in Ohio, Pennsylvania”

Obama’s polling ahead of McCain in both those places. Plus he’s polling better with the white working class than Kerry and Gore did. Plus he’s going to win Colorado and Virginia — mark my words.
Duros62 says:

May 21, 2008 at 12:48 pm

If everyone is going to sit around until the convention, that will leave only 8 weeks to campaign against John McCain.

Dems have an overwhelming advantage right now, but we need a unified party to press the attack.

That may be why Obama is talking more about McNovocain and Bush than about Hillary lately.
Duros62 says:

May 21, 2008 at 12:49 pm

That’s how you lead.