History Calls
The Washington Post | June 05, 2008
By Washington Post Editorial Board
YOU DON'T have to be a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) -- in fact, you don't have to be a Democrat -- to feel good about the fact that he has won enough support to gain his party's nomination for the presidency. As White House press secretary Dana Perino, no Democrat, graciously acknowledged yesterday, Mr. Obama's "historic achievement reflects the fact that our country has come a long way." In his most famous speech, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. lamented that "the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land." Forty-five years to the day after the Rev. King outlined his dream, an African American will almost certainly accept his party's nomination for the presidency.
Mr. Obama's achievements in the primary campaign transcend race. More than any presidential candidate in recent years, he was able to mobilize large numbers of voters -- young people and African Americans in particular -- who had not previously participated in the political process. The energy and optimism unleashed by the Obama campaign allowed it to harness the power of the Internet to raise breathtaking sums of money, a gratifying proportion of it in relatively small amounts. Against a formidable -- indeed, supposedly unstoppable -- opponent, Mr. Obama ran a campaign that would have been impressive for a veteran; it was amazing for a relative newcomer to the political scene.
