« "In Iraq For A Hundred Years" | Main | Dodd and Biden Bow Out »

The Mold Is Smashed

03 Jan 2008 10:57 pm

Look at their names: Huckabee and Obama. Both came from nowhere - from Arkansas and Hawaii. Both campaigned as human beings, not programmed campaign robots with messages honed in focus groups. Both faced powerful and monied establishments in both parties. And both are running two variants on the same message: change, uniting America again, saying goodbye to the bitterness of the polarized past, representing ordinary voters against the professionals. Neither has been ground down by long experience, but neither is a neophyte.

You have a Republican educated in a Bible college; and a Democrat who is the most credible African-American candidate for the presidency in history. Their respective margins were far larger than most expected. And the hope they have unleashed is palpable.

That hope is not just about their parties. It is about America. America's ability to move forward, to unite, to get past the bitter red-and-blue past. That's what the next generation wants. And they now seem motivated enough to get it.

(Photo-image by Ori Gersht. Bio here.)

Permalink :: Trackback (3) :: Sphere It!

• E-Mail Andrew
• Andrew's Bio
• Visit The Atlantic
• Books by Andrew Sullivan
• Add this RSS Feed 
• An Award Glossary
• Site Meter 
• Book A Speaking Engagement

• Patrick Appel

• Thinking Through California
• The simple truth is that what has changed these past twenty years is not the nature of judges, but our collective understanding of what sexual orientation is.
• "Unacceptable"
• We should have a debate about whether in fact it is a good idea for the president of the United States to keep dialogue with our enemies as an option.
• Judicial "Activism"?
• As usual, the lazy critics are uninformed. The California court has not over-ruled the legislature.
• Equality In California
• The most populous state now joins much of the rest of the Western world in bringing gay couples into the civic and human family as equals.
• HIV Phobia Still On The Books
• I've written an op-ed on the resilient Jesse Helms HIV immigration and visitor ban, still uniquely stigmatizing HIV in America's legal system.

The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back
Buy The Book (Amazon) Buy The Book (Barnes and Noble) The CSPAN Brian Lamb Interview

Essays	Archive
Why Not Seeing is Believing Green Conservatism The End of Gay Culture Debate with Sam Harris Goodbye to All That	May 11 - May 17 (304) May 04 - May 10 (330) Apr 27 - May 03 (293) Apr 20 - Apr 26 (271) Apr 13 - Apr 19 (281) Apr 06 - Apr 12 (274) Complete Archive

• Drudge Report
• Washington Post
• New York Times
• The Onion
• Instapundit
• The Corner
• The Plank
• Talking Points Memo
• Slate
• The Daily Telegraph
• The Times
• The Guardian
• Daily Kos
• The Washington Monthly
• The Weekly Standard
• Hit & Run
• The Volokh Conspiracy
• Michelle Malkin
• Hugh Hewitt
• Glenn Greenwald
• Juan Cole
• The Huffington Post
• Matt Yglesias
• The Spine
• YouTube
• Balkinization
• Iraq the Model
• Dan Drezner
• Belgravia Dispatch
• Independent Gay Forum

• 2Blowhards
• 3 Quarks Daily
• The American Scene
• Ann Althouse
• Stephen Bainbridge
• Balloon Juice
• Bookforum
• Bookslut
• Contentions
• Crooked Timber
• The Cunning Realist
• Clive Davis
• Rod Dreher
• Eschaton
• The Frontal Cortex
• Headline Junky
• Intel Dump
• Kottke
• Kenyon Review
• David Kuo
• Daniel Larison
• Majikthise
• Greg Mankiw
• Marginal Revolution
• Mind Hacks
• The Moderate Voice
• Obsidian Wings
• Opinion Journal
• Pollster.com
• Virginia Postrel
• The Reality-Based Community
• Science Daily
• Think Progress
• Michael J. Totten
• Whispers in the Loggia
• Wonkette