• English Site
• > World
• > United States

Obama's Quiet Celebration

Democrats Shift Battle to McCain

By Gregor Peter Schmitz in St. Paul, Minnesota

The end of the primary season has been long in coming for the Democrats. But now that it's here, Barack Obama is not yet in the mood to celebrate. He has a party to unite -- and one more opponent to leave by the wayside.

People know how to welcome stars to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Just this week, the hall will play host to the aging rockers from R.E.M. and the wildly successful band Coldplay.

On Tuesday night, though, the name circling the cavernous arena on the continuous digital display is not that of a world famous music act. Barack Obama is in the house -- and the anticipation prior to his appearance is palpable.

Finally, at 9:14 p.m. local time, he utters the sentence that his followers have been eager to hear since his 16-month-long duel with Hillary Clinton began: "Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States."

Some 20,000 Obamaniacs had filled the hall to hear the sentence, and they immediately jumped to their feet and roared their approval. A black man with his three sons held his cell phone aloft so his wife back home could be part of the excitement. Over and over again, he screamed into the phone, "Can you hear that? Can you hear that?"

An Offstage Hug

Fans of the Democratic candidate for president waited up to five hours just to get into the arena, and then they had to wait hours more, many of them using their Blackberries to keep up with the news. Just after 8 p.m., news channel CNN declared Obama to be the presumptive nominee for the Democrats. Just before the announcement, it had become clear that Obama had lost out to Clinton in the South Dakota primary. But throughout the day, more and more superdelegates had come out in favor of the Senator from Illinois. Later, Obama won a final overwhelming primary victory in Montana.

Inside the Xcel center, the CNN announcement provoked hardly a peep, and no video screens were turned on to inform the crowd. There was just a silent, offstage hug between Obama and his advisors. It was an emphatically understated end to a once-in-a-lifetime campaign.

Four years ago, hardly anyone in the US had heard of Barack Obama. Two years ago, Hillary Clinton was the Democrats' clear favorite. Even a year ago, Obama had to put up with the question -- asked even by African-Americans -- of whether America would ever be ready for a black candidate. And one month ago Obama was still embroiled in an ugly war of words with Clinton, his Democratic colleague.

But his advisers decided that Tuesday evening was not the right moment for massive jubilation. After all, it also marked the start of the coming battle against the Republicans. The Obama team's first step therefore was to make a friendly overture to Obama's bitter rival.

An hour earlier, Clinton herself had sounded much less conciliatory during her speech in New York. She praised herself once again as the better candidate for the struggle for the White House and refused to concede the race. "I will be making no decisions tonight," she said, explaining that she wanted the 18 million voters who had voted for her to be respected.

'Had Our Differences'

But it was to precisely these voters that Obama was directing a tactical offer of peace during his speech in St. Paul. "Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign," he said. "Not just because she’s a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she’s a leader who inspires millions of Americans."

Obama admitted casually that Clinton and he had "had our differences over the last 16 months." The way he spoke, it sounded as if Clinton had occasionally got in his way rather than flatly denied his suitability for the White House, as she did. "I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton," he continued. His supporters understood the strategy and refrained from booing whenever the name Clinton was mentioned, as they had done in the past. Instead, they applauded vigorously.

But in complimenting Clinton, Obama was also in a sense throwing down a gauntlet. Despite his praise for his rival, Obama left no doubt that the moment marked the start of his candidacy -- and not their common candidacy. "This is our time," he told his supporters.

His strategists also saw this evening as a first chance to present Obama to the American people in a different light. His speech was more personal than usual, with more references to his family and to his background. Before he began his speech, he chatted to his wife Michelle. After the speech, he embraced her and thanked his children and his grandmother, who, he said, had always invested everything in him. "This evening is for them," he said.

A Vote on Bush's 'Failed Policies'

Then he'll be taking on the Republicans, who have also scheduled their national convention to take place here in the Xcel Energy Center in early September. Obama praised opponent John McCain as a man who has served his country heroically -- but he also took a stab at him. "I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine," he said. And then, as he has so often done in recent weeks, Obama portrayed McCain as a Bush lackey who would merely forge ahead on the same path of failure.

Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, later expanded on Obama's thoughts. "Now a new election is starting," he said. "It will be a vote on the failed policies of the last eight years. America wants change."

But do they also want Obama and Clinton to unite forces? Axelrod said, tersely: "We will have a united party backing us."

Clinton could help Obama with older voters, with blue-collar workers, with Latinos and Jews. But there are other vice presidential candidates who could do that, too. Media reports suggest that Obama and Clinton will discuss the issue with each other, possibly in the very near future. And on Tuesday night, they spoke on the phone.

But Obama's supporters didn't care much about the tactical maneuvering and finessing during this historical moment on Tuesday. They just wanted to celebrate the fact that America now has its first-ever African-American presidential nominee.

Pull Together

Brandon Banteh, for example, drove for four hours to St. Paul. Once here, he waited four hours in a line to get in. "I'm more excited than I have ever been before in my life," the young academic said. He took Monday and Tuesday off work, "and if Obama needs me in the fall, I am ready to take more days off." An older white woman stands smiling next to him, nodding her head rapidly. An Iraq veteran pats Brandon on the shoulder and explains to a reporter why he only trusts Obama and why the Democrats need to pull together.

The young black man. The Iraq veteran. The older woman. It's the spectrum of the coalition that Obama must forge between now and November to win. John McCain will be a formidable opponent, and Obama has lost a lot of his shine in the fierce primary battle against Clinton. But Banteh didn't want to ruminate too much on that. "Regardless of the outcome, he said, "the US will be changed forever."