Introduction
A significant proportion of the world’s populace witnessed the U.S citizens making history by choosing Barrack Obama, an Afro – American, as their 44th president. He was elected on November 4, 2008 as the country’s administrator. Obama went to the polls with John McCain, a republican whom he defeated.
This is by gaining 365 electoral votes, upon comparison to McCain’s 173 votes. Consequently, Barrack Obama gained the leadership of America, a nation that exuded deep-rooted racial tendencies. It is remarkable to note that disparities on race purportedly derailed Barrack Obama’s quest for the post. This was partly attributable to his roots in Africa.
Barrack Obama’s conduct in the political arena was immensely dissimilar from his challengers as reflected in his extraordinary win. This paper will scrutinize the election of Barrack Obama by delving into the events and facts, which defined the occasion. Furthermore, it concludes by illuminating my personal perceptions as pertains to the occasion.
Nomination by Democrats
Precedent to the general elections, Democratic Party candidates, contested for the party ticket. Senator Obama faced antagonism from two worthy challengers thus Senator Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Opinion polls availed information regarding the likely nominee. Initially, Hillary Clinton enjoyed magnanimous support from democrats. This is because they preferred to nominate her for the Democratic Party presidential candidate.
Indeed, polls conducted during 11-14, November in the year 2007 showed that 48% of Democrats would side with Clinton. Concurrently, 21% of Democrats would propose Obama whilst 12% would nominate John Edwards (Newport 249). Until the conclusion of 2007 and early 2008, Hillary Clinton was the preferred nominee by Democrats to vie for the office.
At the beginning of February 2008, Barrack Obama gained support for Democratic recommendation since he was favored by 44% of the democrats, upon comparison to Hillary Clinton’s 45%. Consequently, Obama came first in a few states during primaries. Interestingly, racial favoritism was still rampant in the Democratic nominations as Black Americans demonstrated their backing for Barrack. Notably, 25% of them supported Hillary Clinton. Similarly, Clinton gained huge backing from Whites and Hispanics, as opposed to Obama.
In February 2008, most women chose Mrs. Clinton as their desired competitor thus her major strength in the primaries. Significantly, by April 2008, Gallup poll ranked Barrack Obama at 49% over Hillary Clinton’s 42% preference by Democrats (Newport 349). Evidently, Barrack received little support from the conservative Democrats, upon comparison with Mrs. Clinton who enjoyed their huge backing. Analysts observed that such circumstances illuminated Obama’s weakness in the nomination race.
As evident in May 2008, the race was tilting in favor of Barrack Obama at 51%, upon comparison to Hillary’s 42%. The media also reported vital commentaries concerning Barrack Obama and John McCain’s remarks on handling Israel together with Palestine clashes. Still, the news coverage hypothesized that Barrack Obama would ultimately win the Democratic nomination. Conversely, Hillary Clinton received diminished exposure (Newport 371).
In the first week of June, Hillary Clinton conceded defeat thus allowing Obama to forge ahead. Interestingly, this was the longest nomination competition between contenders. Finally, on “August 27, 2008” Democrats picked Barrack Obama as the competitor for the U.S presidential elections. Earlier, Barrack Obama had shocked numerous people by choosing “Joe Biden, as his second-in-command”. It is remarkable that Joe Biden represented Delaware in the senate prior to the selection (Newport 478).
Subsequently, the battle line became manifest amid Obama’s team and his challenger John McCain. The latter is a senator representing Arizona who had chosen Sarah Palin, an Alaskan administrator as the running mate.
Presidential Campaigns
Apparently, U.S was ready for fresh management owing to the frustration of the citizens under Republican government. People speculated that persons selected by to run for the top job might be likable to the electorate if affiliated to the Democratic Party. This insinuates that Barrack Obama’s win signaled that the general election was almost concluded (Ceaser, Busch & Pitney 14).
Notably, the pressing agenda for voters was the methodologies each contender for the Whitehouse would utilize in handling the economic problems and the war on Iraq. The competitors held a debate on September 26, 2008, which Barrack won thereby escalating his support from diverse entities.
The debate, which centered on, issues entailing national security and economic performance was subject to review by citizens and contenders. It never disappointed as they clearly explained their agendas. The last debate held on October 15, where Obama chose to focus on the deteriorating U.S economy was equally enlightening. Obama argued that due to George Bush’s policies, the U.S economy was going through a crisis.
Barrack Obama continued with his allegations that, John McCain policies would connote an extension of Bush administration, which had caused several predicaments to the citizens (Ceaser, Busch & Pitney 150). The debate further enabled Barrack Obama to gain support for the competition since elimination of economic was the sole interest of many citizens.
Voters noted that Obama was a candidate who could offer the appropriate leadership that was necessary for removing the country, out of the economic problems. Most polls conducted in the conclusive week still put Mr. Obama forward, upon comparison to McCain. This saw Barrack Obama gain extra backing from several levelheaded Republicans who unanimously backed him for the executive job.
Political heavyweights including Colin Powell and William Weld also approved Barrack. Notably, the two are highly esteemed and outstanding Americans commanding huge influence on citizens. Barrack Obama completed a trip to Hawaii in the concluding week of the exercise to visit his Grandmother Madelyn Dunham. His partner, Michelle campaigned for him by highlighting the teachings of Obama’s grandmother.
Barrack Obama was still full of energy and dynamism towards the end of the campaign. On November 3, he made his last attempt at capturing votes from the battlefield states. Barrack started his day campaigning at Jacksonville together with Florida and finally meeting voters at Virginia (Ceaser, Busch & Pitney 150).
Polls indicated that, winning these states, which already supported Democratic candidates, would escalate his chances of garnering 291 electoral ballots. These were 21 votes, in addition, to the required 270. In the evening, the media aired a recorded advert about Barrack Obama campaigns so that viewers could see his final blitz of campaign trails in the country.
The anticipated day, finally came in November 4, 2008. The voting was on track thus Obama was voted as the 44th chief executive. Barrack Obama defeated John McCain by a notable margin gaining seven spots. This is evident in 53% against his challenger’s 46%.
Similarly, democrats gained seven positions at the senate by capturing “Colorado, Nevada, Virginia, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina” states original Republicans home turfs and twenty-one places for the House (Ceaser, Busch & Pitney 1). The campaign, which was the longest and energetic in contemporary times ended with a satisfactory victory for Barrack Obama.
Subsequently, U.S congress authenticated Barrack Obama’s win formally and proclaimed him as the “44th president of America on January 8 2008”. The American legal stipulations require that the congress officially tally electoral votes emanating from the 50 U.S states together with the single District of Columbia.
This allows it to declare the president and his assistant as winners. Barrack Obama succeed by capturing 365 electoral ballots while John McCain obtained 173 votes. Similarly, Joe Biden assumed the state of the assistant executive to president. Finally, Obama took the “oath of office” in January 2008. As illustrated by such facts, the electioneering session ended.
Election Campaign Strategy of Barrack Obama
Throughout the campaigns, Barrack Obama initiated a huge financial base, which was absent in the U.S. Obama’s overheads in the advertisement totaled to $278 million, an advantage, which McCain did not enjoy. Interestingly, people were enthusiastic to fundraise and donate for the Barrack Obama drive (Gormley 159). He also enjoyed the service of volunteers who went to every household asking for votes on his behalf.
Barrack Obama engaged thoughtfulness in articulating key themes for the operation including change, which he highlighted as his focal point in the entire period. The campaign organization for Barrack Obama included superior staff establishing an all-inclusive promotion across regions.
Barrack Obama campaign engaged in admirable work throughout the elections. The team extraordinarily employed the use of technology to reach voters from shared networks to YouTube. This is by posting Barrack Obama friendly vote hunt messages to followers (Gormley 92).
Barrack Obama opted to stay unclear on racial issues and identity and engaged his campaign team to win support from diverse regions. Nevertheless, the race projected Obama’s accomplishment within the Democratic Party. This means that he secured wins at preliminary selection stages and caucuses. The media were propelling factors since they constructively exposed his campaigns (Gormley 144). The practitioners of the Fourth Estate continued their coverage after the selection giving attention to Barrack Obama than John McCain.
Barrack Obama often gave inspirational address to his audiences including youths with a positive communication approach and knowledge in dissimilar issues. This drew people to him. While delivering the famous Berlin speech, Mr. Obama chose to avail his views as a citizen. This means that he sidelining his election talks.
Barrack’s speeches captured his listener’s hearts making them support his presidential contention (Gormley 119). U.S citizens and citizens from distant lands liked Mr. Barrack. This is evident in the Obama phenomenon that continued worldwide after Obama hit the limelight. Indeed, the release of the outcome and finally the oath taking process was watched world over.
Conclusion
The initiation of Barrack Obama as the 44th manager of U.S was an outstanding event. Prior to such an event, Barrack Obama had to contend with Hillary’s challenge. It is my belief that he succeeded by putting up a worthy contest. As evident in the initial week of June 2008, Hillary Clinton conceded defeat leaving the democrats to pick Barrack Obama to run for the presidency under the party’s ticket.
After careful examination, it is my belief that Obama utilized a strong campaign organization, which incorporated the intellectual luminaries like Axelrod. Furthermore, race was tight, but Mr. Obama surmounted his competitor in the public debates.
In my view, the U.S economy, which was ailing during the elections, influenced voter’s decisions. In the course of the debates, Obama’s agenda and the overall perception that the Democrats would win augmented his popularity. Strong and vigorous vote hunting drives put up by Barrack Obama until the concluding week allowed him to obtain appropriate response from voters.
Consequently, The Electoral College favored Barrack Obama with 365 votes, against McCain’s 173. The US congress pronounced Obama as president elect on January 8; furthermore, he was inaugurated on January 20; thus, empowering him to assume his new roles.
Works Cited
Ceaser, James, Busch, Andrew & Pitney, John. Epic Journey: The 2008 Elections and American Politics. Maryland, ML: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. Print.
Gormley, Beatrice. “Barack Obama: Our 44th President”. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2008. Print.
Newport, Frank. “Winning the White House 2008: The Gallup Poll, Public Opinion, and the Presidency”. New York, NY: InfoBase Publishing, 2009. Print.