This past Saturday night, at the Jefferson Jackson dinner in Iowa, Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama finally showed that fire that everyone has been waiting to see. I am far from an Obama fan, but even I must admit that his speech created an electric atmosphere. This was the best I've seen Obama since his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It could very well be the turning point in this campaign.
In Iowa, Obama has been running neck and neck with Sen. Hillary Clinton in the polls. Iowa is in fact the only place where Obama is even remotely close to Hillary in the poll numbers. That is why Iowa is where Obama must stop Hillary. And I think his great speech last Saturday was his first step in trying to halt the Clinton machine. I look forward to seeing the next poll numbers from Iowa to see if Obama has picked up any momentum. I predict he will and I also predict that the Iowa Caucus results will be an extremely close call. I am now more convinced than ever that Obama might just be able to win Iowa.
The one thing I must criticize Obama for is his refusal to mention Hillary by name in his speeches. When he goes on the attack, it is obvious that he is talking about Sen. Clinton, so why doesn't he just call her out by name? I guess it is no big deal to most voters, but it's just something that irks me. If Edwards goes after Clinton, he doesn't have a problem calling her out by name. Same thing when Clinton challenges Obama. In my opinion, it just appears that Obama doesn't have the "guts" to call Hillary out by her name, and thats just not something that appeals to me.
It should be interesting to see how Hillary and her campaign respond to her slumping poll numbers and the attacks by Obama and Edwards this week. I have a feeling that Hillary will just leave Edwards alone; he is no threat to her. Obama, on the other hand, might be in for a surprise. Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communication director, is known to play hardball. It was Wolfson who really led the charge in the Clinton campaign back in the summer when Clinton went after Obama for saying he would meet with foreign leaders "unconditionally." If you noticed, it was after Clinton branded Obama as "naive" and "weak on foreign policy" that Obama began to drop in the polls and Clinton picked up speed. I see Wolfson doing the same this week. The Hillary campaign is going to go after Obama's biggest weakness-----his complete lack of experience. The argument is going to be made-"Obama has spent just over 2 years in the Senate, is he really ready to be President?" And when you make it sound like that, I think we can all agree, it plays to Hillary's favor.
Whatever the backlash may be, I must commend Obama for finally showing the same spirit at the JJ Dinner that made the country fall in love with him back in '04. I feel that Obama's speech on Saturday might have just won him the Iowa caucus. I also am sure though that Hillary won't go down without a fight, and I expect it to get ugly in the next few weeks. And although I am a Hillary supporter and I enjoyed her comfortable front-runner status, the other side of me is glad to finally see a race. There is nothing like the hardball, nail-biting, no-holds-barred feel of Presidential politics.
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