A Look at Iowa: Wherein the Bloggist Gloats Over His Candidate’s Victory

It’s been awhile since I posted on this thing, but I just noticed a request for some post-Iowa thoughts, so I guess it’s as good a time as any to start up the blog-train again.

First off, let me bask in the smug self-satisfaction that comes from my preferred candidate passing the first test of the electoral season with flying colors. Obama’s performance this past year has been amazing; he ran just the kind of campaign necessary to unseat the practically coronated Clinton after starting the race 30 points behind. Through his sheer likeability and his charming “politics of hope” rhetoric, he established himself as a solid second place candidate without drawing practically any criticism from his rivals; after all, it wouldn’t pay to attack such a positive figure. Of course, after his position as frontrunner was more than secure, he was able to go right for Clinton’s throat, joining with Edwards to change the Democratic contest from “choose from 8 candidates of change” to “choose between the ESTABLISHMENT, man and 7 candidates of change (but especially Obama).

Now that he’s got a solid W under his belt, I’m hoping we’ll start to hear the end of the “America isn’t ready for a black president” shit. As far as race goes, it’s hard to get much more whitebred than Iowa, and if they’re comfortable with a black president, I think we can lay the suspicions to rest.

“But wait, what about the South?” First off all, rhetorical device question man, as Thomas Schaller argues, the Democrats really don’t need the South to win national elections. And second of all, it’s not like any of those states have any chance of swinging towards Clinton; I doubt the issue of race will cause Obama to lose the vital Democratic stronghold of Alabama.

A final note of gloating: Obama’s Iowa victory seems to be giving him some much-needed momentum in the upcoming primary contests; the first post-Iowa Rasmussen poll in New Hampshire puts him 10 points ahead of Clinton (sorry for second-hand link, Rasmussen’s page seems to be down right now).

I haven’t been paying as much attention to the Republican contest as I probably should, but I can’t help but think (and hope) that Iowa will be a notable fluke. Democrats seem to consider Huckabee an easy opponent in the general, but I’m worried about him; he’s got that folksy charm that made people notice him in the first place, and as we’ve seen in Iowa, his crazy-ass social views really seem to energize the Christian right. I personally think someone like Romney or Giuliani would be more beatable thanks to the lackluster response they’ve received from the true believers.

And finally, since this blog seems to have so much Ron Paul related material already, let me just take a minute to say how hilarious it’s been reading the reactions from his internet supporters to his 5th place finish in Iowa. Personally, I think 10% is pretty respectable considering where Paul started and how exclusive his message is, but it seems as though many of his supporters were firmly under the belief that he was going to pull off a win, evil mainstream “polls” and “reality” be damned. The growing screams of massive voter fraud (designed specifically to neutralize the Ron Paul “threat”) have been the best; a common point of outrage has been the reports of the caucus results being tabulated in a central computer system maintained by–gasp–a firm based in Israel. “Damn you, international Zionist banking collective! Why must you stretch your reptilian fingers over the American political process once again? That’s it, I’m going back into my bunker.”

 In my next post, I’ll talk about a very uplifting demographic development that came to a head in Thursday’s caucus.