A Soulful, Bounding Leap

What a difference a day makes. This time yesterday, polls suggested that Barack Obama had a slim lead in the Wisconsin and appeared to be losing ground to Hillary Clinton. Today, Obama basks in the triumph of a Wisconsin victory with 58 percent of the vote.

Obama is surging ahead beyond anyone's expectations and Hillary's control. He suddenly looks formidable in Ohio - a state with demographics not unlike Wisconsin's - and he's in a dead heat with Hillary in Texas. Mrs. Clinton's relentless negative attacks and her nitpicking over inconsequential issues -whether Obama stole lines from his friend, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick - haven't worked, and her campaign slogans have changed faster than her staff personnel. Obama now leads Hillary in national polls and is given more of a chance to beat John McCain.

The one misstep made in the Obama camp so far was made not by the candidate but by his wife. Obama's belle Michelle declared that the mood of Americans for change and the seriousness they're currently pursuing it with has made her proud of her country "for the first time in my adult life." Republicans are already pouncing on this comment, suggesting that Michelle Obama is somehow unpatriotic, and even John McCain's wife has made it a point to declare that she has always been proud of the Untied States. Mrs. Obama's remarks were clearly taken out of context, and she was certainly voicing frustration as an American - and let's face it, as a black woman - that Americans hadn't made enough progress over the past several years in levelling the playing field and making this society a more just or civilized one. Such remarks don't play well in the mainstream, no matter what context they're in.

Of course, if the Republicans attack Michelle Obama for this, they'll look like a bunch of old white men beating up on someone who is none of the above. Pat Buchanan made that obvious, asking how Michelle Obama couldn't have been proud of this country after it came together in the aftermath of 9/11.

Maybe because that spirit of solidarity only lasted two weeks?

I hope it doesn't come to this, but Michelle Obama may have to tone down her rhetoric our act the part of adoring living-statue spouse like Cindy McCain. Because Americans have decided that only one black woman can say what she wants, no matter how much people don't want to hear it . . .

. . . and here she is.

Fortunately, she supports Obama. :-D