Posting Date: November 5, 2008
Obama’s victory brought change, but not enough to Illinois
America got change Tuesday night.
It wasn’t a rout, though. The change was limited. President George W. Bush who became a major issue in the contest between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain was leaving no matter who won.
And while Obama won, becoming the nation’s first African American president, that change stopped far short of the change America really needed, especially in Illinois, the new president-elect’s home state where congressional Republicans showed that the GOP is far from dead.
In fact, although Democrats did pick up 5 senate seats to expand their majority, and 12 congressional seats, they couldn’t win the bullet-proof magic number of 60 which would have allowed them to make their legislation filibuster proof in the Senate.
And several contests that should have been won were lost in the Illinois heartland on the congressional level.
Change? In color, race, style and in the White House. But substantive change, not enough to insure that Obama will not face a tough challenge during his presidency.
You might think that the nation’s first African American president will need more than just simply winning the White. House. He needed a mandate. He got a good victory, but McCain still did well.
Turns out that if McCain were really like President Bush as everyone was saying, chances are he might have done better, no matter what the popularity polls contend about the outgoing president’s low standing.
In Illinois, four Democratic challengers came up short, and I mean short. They were close. And that makes their loss that much more difficult to accept.
Democrat Jill Morgenthaler, the highly qualified veteran and head of the state’s Department of Homeland Security, could not defeat U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam in DuPage County’s 6th District. Roskam’s campaign was based on one strategy, to muddy-up Morgenthaler with lies and distortions, never once telling voters why he should be returned to office.
In the west southwest and far suburbs, Democrat Scott Harper failed, despite an awesome campaign commercial, to unseat do-nothing U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert in the 13th District.
In the far North, Democrat Dan Seals came close but failed to unseat controversial congressman and Republican Mark Kirk.
Robert Abboud, in the northwest region of failed to unseat U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo in the 16th District, in part because of a poorly run election campaign.
Incumbent Democrats in contested districts like U.S. Rep. Bill Foster in the district of disgraced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, managed to keep his seat defeating controversial Republican challenger Jim Oberweis. And Democrat U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, who succeeded another controversy plagued former Republican in 2004, Phil Crane, easily beat back Republican challenger Steve Greenberg in the 8th District.
Democrats won one seat in Illinois, when state Sen. Debbie Halvorson defeat Republican concrete mogul and political novice Marty Ozinga in the 11th Congressional District.
Where’s the change?
Obama was leading McCain in every Blue Democrats, carried in 2004 by Kerry, including Pennsylvania. And, Obama pushed ahead in traditional Republican states like Ohio, Colorado, Indiana and Virginia. Indiana and Virginia hadn’t voted Democratic in more than 40 years. Obama won swing states of Florida, Iowa and New Mexico, which Kerry also lost to Bush in 2004. North Carolina and Missouri were too close to call early the next morning.
Yes, There is much to celebrate outside of Illinois.
But Obama’s coattails apparently were not long enough to spread the change around. His support from television talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who more than anyone besides the brilliant strategies of Chicago consultant David Axelrod, propelled Obama to success. But no one else.
Looking back, it was clear Obama did not spend much time in Illinois and maybe that was the tactical error in this campaign. Maybe Illinois was happy just to say they have their own home state somewhat favorite son in the White House. Had he fought harder in Illinois instead of ignoring it, the Land of Lincoln would be enjoying the “change” far more than we are and ti would have real meaning than it does.
John McCain ran a terribly unfocused campaign, which probably helped Obama win in the few “Red” states he needed to overcome the victory line that Bush set in 2000 against Al Gore and in 2004 against John Kerry.
Nationally, Democrats picked up seats in the U.S. Senate and in other congressional districts. Illinois will remain a Democratic controlled state.
But this all just raises the one question we can’t avoid. Was it that Barack Obama brought change to America, or did American’s simply bring the change themselves, selecting a candidate who did a better job in campaigning?
(Ray Hanania can be reached at rayhanania@comcast.net. Listen to Mornings with Ray Hanania
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