The December 2008 US presidential elections marked a point of history where the first African American was elected to occupy the most prestigious office in the white house. While polls had indicated that Barrack Obama, the Democrat candidate was more likely to win the elections than his closest rival, John McCain, the Republican candidate, not many people had expected such a landslide victory. This paper will outline the two candidates, how they competed during the runoff to the elections, and identify what factors placed the Democrat candidate at an advantage, hence handing him victory at the end of the race.
Born Barrack Hussein Obama Jr, the Democrat candidate was the first child of a white mother, Ann Dunham, and a Kenyan father, Barrack Obama Sr., by his conception; both his parents were young students at the University of Hawaii. Later, his father left for Harvard before traveling back to Kenya, leaving the two behind. Ann Dunham then married an oil manager from Indonesia. This forced them to move to Indonesia. Barrack was age six. In Indonesia, Barrack recounts tastes of poverty that marked the developing country. Later, he moved back to Hawaii, where he stayed with his grandmother. Although his father called him regularly, he only visited them once when Barrack was ten years old (IMDb, 2009).
Obama studied in Punahou School, one of the prestigious institutions in Hawaii. He later joined Columbia University and studied law. He later moved to Chicago to work with a church-based organization that assisted poor residents of the Southside. He moved to Harvard Law School, where he became the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review. Upon completing his studies, he declined a judicial clerkship offer. He preferred to represent victims of discrimination in housing and employment and legislation of voting right as a civil rights practitioner in Chicago. He ran for the seat of Senator in the same District under the Democrat ticket and won. He represented Illinois in the US Senate in the year 2004. He gained national acclaim when he gave a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention. In 2008 he ran for the presidency on a Democratic ticket and won (IMDb, 2009).
On his part, John Sydney McCain III was born in 1936 at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in Panama Canal Zone. He was the second son of John S. McCain Jr and Roberta McCain. Both his father and grandfather were four-star admirals. His father later became the overall commander of the US naval forces within the Pacific. McCain had a stint in several prestigious schools before he graduated in 1954 from Episcopal High School. From the Naval Academy, McCain graduated in 1958 and later from the flight school in 1960 (Biography, 2009).
He later volunteered to offer his services in the Vietnam War, flying low-altitude attack planes. He escaped death when 134 of his counterparts died in a missile ripped through his A-4 Skyhawk plane. In 1967, his aircraft was short, and he broke both his arms and one leg. He was captured and imprisoned at Hoa Loa Prison in Hanoi. He was offered early release due to his being the son of a high-ranking. Officer, which he refused. This could have been used as propaganda and also a breach of the naval codes of conduct. He then spent five years as a prisoner of war, where he was tortured and beaten till 1973, when he was released along with several other American POWs. He earned several medals, including the bronze star, the Silver Star, the flying cross, and the Purple Heart. He underwent rehabilitation before he resumed his flying duty, but his injuries would not permit him to do so (Biography, 2009).
He was assigned Navy’s Liaison Officer to the senate before Marrying Cindy as his second wife. He retired to Arizona, where he worked in his father-in-law’s beer distributing business as a Public Relations officer (Biography, 2009).
During the runoffs, several politicians and public figures engaged in the process of endorsing their favorite candidates. Each tried to offer reasons why their favorite candidates were more suitable for the post than the opponents. On his part, Obama received endorsements from Thomas Daschle, Adrien Fenty, Rod Blagojevich, Dick Durbin, Rich Daley, Ted Sorenson, Arthur Davis, Jesse Jackson, John Kerry, Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith, George Clooney, Halle Berry, Chris Rock, Usher, and many civil rights and religious leaders including Joseph Lowery, Michael Battle, Rev Lawrence Carter, and Dewitt Smith among others. Media organizations like the Boston Globe, Portsmouth Herald, New York Times, Des Moines, and others also endorsed Obama (Katunda, 2008).
John McCain was endorsed by Henry Kissinger, Joe Lieberman, Jeb Bush, George HW Bush, George W Bush, Jeff Hagee, Arnold Schwarzenegger, The New York Times, Trent Lot, Curt Schilling, Alexander Haig, Jane Swift, Norman Schwarzkopf, Tim Pawlenty and several other religious figures and political figures who felt that he was better placed to lead the Nation into the future (Mahalo, 2009).
Several reasons helped Obama win the elections. The first reason was his identification and understanding of the economic fears of the middle and low-class families. He was born and brought up in the same lifestyle and therefore made adequate strategies to solve these problems. McCain did not have this experience. Obama had a leader-like calm, thoughtful nature, and other leadership qualities that most endorsements did not mention. On the other part, McCain had a reckless and unpredictable nature. Obama’s health care insurance plan was all-inclusive and would allow all Americans access to good health care services, unlike McCain’s, which would have sidelined some poor Americans. The decision to withdraw the American troops from Iraq also helped Obama win the elections. Most Americans were fed up with the war. Finally, the choice of Joe Bidden as a running mate was great because his experience and the fact that he was well-liked by many Americans was an advantage. He would serve as a suitable counsel to the president and qualify to be president should the president fail to continue operating in the office (White, 2009).
The first forty days in office witnessed several events and steps taken by Obama. The president signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that would specify minimum wage for workers, shut down the Guantanamo Bay Detention facility, pushed and succeeded for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act worth $789 billion, engaged to have the banks nationalized, issued a housing plan that would cost $275 billion, improved on the faith-based initiatives and finally he has come up with the Financial Stability Plan with the Capital Assistance Program for the Treasury Department (Bourque, 2009).
In conclusion, Obama is determined to hold onto his promises. This can be seen from the effort he has shown on his first few days in office.
References
- Biography. “John McCain Biography.” 2009.
- Bourque, Stephen. “Shock and Awe: Obama’s First Forty Days.” One Reality. 2009.
- International Movie Database. “Biography for Barrack Obama.” 2009. Web.
- Katunda, Franklin. “Barack Obama for President Endorsements.” 2008.
- Mahalo. “McCain Endorsements.” 2009.
- White, Deborah. “Five Reasons why Obama Won the ’08 Elections” About.com, 2009. Web.