Justin Webb's America

Obama on poverty

• Justin Webb
• 25 Feb 08, 09:14 PM GMT

Greetings now from another huge rally at a university in Cincinnati - a sports hall filled to the rafters.

Thunderous support for an Obama speech which contained the interesting line that he is "a supporter of capitalism!"

That's a relief - America's coming socialist revolution is on hold after all.

BUT "If you are working in this country you should not be poor," is another line - and that idea, it seems to me, would be genuinely revolutionary if it caught on.

America does not believe in entrenched poverty, class-based poverty. But this is a society in which, if things don’t turn out right, you can fall very hard and land very low. Not that this nation is proud of poverty - but I have always thought there is a semi-willing acceptance of it as a corollary of the great emphasis given to wealth-creation here.

If every working American was well off, the US would - as some have pointed out - look more like Canada or even Western Europe.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton keeps hammering away in her own inimitable style.

And Bill Kristol likewise, though with rather more effect perhaps:

"Barack Obama is an awfully talented politician. But could the American people, by November, decide that for all his impressive qualities, Obama tends too much toward the preening self-regard of Bill Clinton, the patronizing elitism of Al Gore and the haughty liberalism of John Kerry?"

I read those words as thousands of joy-filled people let out an ear-splitting cheer at the end of his speech. Last words: "... and we will change the world!" No Baracklash here...

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Obama's rapid response

• Justin Webb
• 25 Feb 08, 05:55 PM GMT

In Cincinnati with Obama and all the talk is of tribal gear following the appearance of this fetching photo of the candidate helpfully circulated (allegedly) by Clinton aides who thought it would be sad if the world didn't see how well, um, foreign, he could look.

Dirty tricks or a fuss about nothing? Here in Team Obama they are taking it very seriously - an example of the post-swiftboat world, I guess.

A senior staff member just winked at me and said "boy, you've picked the right moment to come on the bus…" I think we have - the interesting thing is not the Clinton attack (the sarcasm and the photo) but the strength and sureness of touch of the Obama riposte.

Of course once you are elected you can wear what you like...

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Coming home to Middle America

• Justin Webb
• 25 Feb 08, 03:34 AM GMT

Respect to Maureen Dowd of the New York Times for the vivid simile of the weekend, describing the over-spending of the Clinton campaign as being like that of "a hedge fund manager in a flat-screen TV store".

This is fascinating, is it not? I remember going to Texas years ago when the Democrats were being re-districted out of power for what seemed like a generation. This piece - calmly - suggests they might be back. And of course the nature of the support, the mores of the people who represent the party, has an effect on the party itself. If Texans become important in the party, a Texan take on life might compete with that of San Francisco or Manhattan.

It's not just that policies affect where support comes from - the process is circular and the geographical spread of support will affect future policy. Amid all the talk of Barack Obama being a lefty - a Canadian even - there is a bigger picture of a Democratic Party coming home to Middle America if the wins, congressional, presidential et al, were to be huge in November.

I am writing this in a hotel in Cincinnati waiting to hook up with Team Obama for a magic carpet ride across the wonderful state of Ohio. Not that I have yet been offered even the tiniest sip of Kool-Aid but I wonder if the extent of the certainty of the Obama victory is being under-reported out of - for want of a better word - cowardice?

Jonathan Alter thinks so:

"The pundit class hasn't been quicker to point all this out because of what happened in New Hampshire. A lot of us looked foolish by all but writing Hillary off when she lost the Iowa caucuses. As we should have known, stuff happens in politics. But that was early. The stuff that would have to happen now would be on a different order of magnitude. It's time to stop overlearning the lesson of New Hampshire."

Omigod. He won and nobody's even noticed...

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