History Calls

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Barack Obama's landmark nomination by the Democratic Party will have been well earned.

Thursday, June 5, 2008; Page A18

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.

As the race turns definitively to the general election, Mr. Obama faces political and substantive challenges. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) basically matched Mr. Obama's support among Democrats; Mr. Obama needs to help salve the wounds of defeat and do his best to unite the party. His eventual victory masked notable deficits in his ability to attract certain demographics -- older voters, Hispanics, white working-class men. His choice of a vice presidential candidate has become particularly fraught, as Ms. Clinton seems to be trying to strong-arm her way onto the ticket.

The general election will, no doubt, echo some of the debates of the primaries, both legitimate and phony: whether Mr. Obama has adequate experience for the job, whether his foreign policy views are naive, whether his prior associations -- especially with the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. -- should be held against him. It should also be a time for airing many issues that were barely discussed during the primary campaign. The role of the government in providing health care, the wisdom of additional tax cuts, the direction of the Supreme Court, the best way forward in Iraq -- on all of these, Mr. Obama and his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), have important differences for voters to weigh. Mr. McCain's proposal yesterday that the two nominees hold weekly, town-hall-style debates, and Mr. Obama's apparent openness to such encounters, offers some hope that the general election can be waged on the elevated plane that both nominees say they want.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...8060403510.html