Matt Zeitlin: Impetuous Young Whippersnapper

Obama was exactly the type of candidate that Democrats always told themselves they could not nominate. He is – and we can admit this now – a somewhat aloof cultural elite. His story is actually quite alien to the experiences of many Americans. He is not bubba and does not relate well to the much ballyhooed white working class on a visceral, personal level. He is professorial and his appeal has often relied on rather ethereal notions of hope and change. Despite some rhetorical shadings on cultural issues and his aberrant views on gay marriage, he is an unabashed social liberal who, most importantly, is as blue-state as you can get. He has lived his entire adult life in either big cities or in college towns, he is the product of a mixed marriage and was a constituional law professor at an elite university. After Mark Penn couselled Hillary Clinton to portray Obama as alien to most Americans, he has managed to win over a country in impressive fashion. Remember, this is a man who can credibly “talk black” and references Jay-Z songs in his speeches. Democratic candidates are supposed to strain themselves to be middle-America, to appeal to the great White middle. Bill Clinton could do this easily and John Kerry embarrassed himself trying. Obama, thank god, only made a few attempts to do so, but kept his core identity – that of a rootless, biracial, coastal liberal – in tact. The crowd at Grant Part was a one million large sample of the majority that we have been told to never dream of since 1972. The young people were largely college students, white and black. The middle aged white folks were hard core Ira Glass fans – or ex hippies. And, of course, African Americans. The states that we turned blue – New Mexico, Virgina, Colorado – we did it on the strength of that coalition. Young people, professionals, racial minorities. And we did with a candidate who is clearly part of our coalition. We showed the country, with a commanding electoral and popular vote win, that we are as much a part of “real America” as Joe the Plumber or of any archetypal figure that we’ve been chasing down since Reagan. 

So yes, the black, constitutional law professor who made his political career in a large city, had a close, personal relationship with a black nationalist, cavorted with aging radicals, lived part of his life in a Muslim country and has the middle name Hussein won the election. And he did on the backs of people that Sarah Palin and much of the GOP wouldn’t recognize as part of our country.