Obamaniacs, lament ye not New Hampshire! Whilst everyone is wondering whether a crocodile was involved in Hillary's "Muskie Moment," whether the Clinton's riggedit, and what it all means going forward, listen up here for a little reality-check from the Taximan.
Let's remember that before the media blew this thing way out of proportion, Obama was never supposed to win New Hampshire. Every poll all year had him tied at best, and the inflated numbers leading up to yesterday led to a ridiculous over-amplification of the significance of Obama's Iowa victory. There were stories about how the Obama-McCain race will look in November. There were stories about Clinton dropping out of the race to preserve the "Clinton brand."
What?! It's damn January! Barack Obama is a first-term senator from Illinois vying to become the nation's first black president! It's going to take more than an upset victory in the cornbelt to put him in the White House! Fellow Obamaniacs: we knew this! We are not behind Main Man because we think he's a shoo-in. We're behind him because we know that, given the opportunity, he can knock the system on its ass and bring about political change the likes of which we've never seen. We're behind him because he combines specific, progressive policies with rafter-rattling rhetoric of hope. We're behind him because he believes we are ready to make him the steward of our opportunity to heal.
We are not behind him because polling over a 2 day period suddenly called him the 10-point favorite. Obama will not be the 10-point favorite at any point from now until February 5th, barring Hillary Clinton's capture by space aliens. Hillary Clinton knows how to run for president. And she's not going to stop knowing how. Reports of her death were greatly exaggerated. Barack Obama knows how to inspire, and happens to be running for president. We should not be disheartened by the results from New Hampshire, or believe that he has somehow come up short. Thus far, in a nomination race that was supposed to be Clinton's all the way, Obama has defeated her in Iowa and finished a whisper behind her in New Hampshire, crushing her in several key demographics along the way. He has made a race out of what was supposed to be a coronation, and his chances of knocking Hillary out of the box are as good as ever. He picked up the endorsement of the Nevada SEIU late last night, and South Carolina is looking good. It's my personal prediction that he's got an endorsement from Al Gore up his sleeve to roll out just before February 5th.
O-Town was a flash in the pan. Obamamania is the real deal. Onward!
UPDATE: For anyone who didn't see it, here's a video of Obama's "concession" speech. Does this look like a someone who's down for the count to you?
What bothered me was all the pundits on TV saying things like, "Something dramatic changed in New Hampshire in the past 24 hours" or "A lot of voters must have changed their minds" or even "Some people may have lied to the pollsters." Did they ever stop to consider that the polls themselves (often conducted by their employers, of course) were flawed?
