Barack Obama's Second Defining Moment

Barack Obama's first "defining moment" came during the Democratic convention when he first appeared on the national stage and gave a speech that knocked the socks off everyone who heard it. The second arrived last night, again in a speech following his victory in the Iowa primary. Obama's message of hope and unity resonates in a country that has been torn apart during the Bush years. David Gergen, the CNN commentator and Republican strategist, was completely blown away by the Obama phenomenon saying that he "represented something new and different in American politics." Other commentators spoke of "the passing of the torch" to a man who swept to victory on the wings of younger voters, both men and women, many of whom were expected to vote for Hillary. He was compared to Bobby Kennedy in his ability to appeal to a broad swath of America's social fabric. Speaking as he did before a crowd of rabid, mostly white supporters as a come-from-behind, highly improbable African-American candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination it seemed for a moment that it was all possible. If a man named Barack Hussein Obama can win in Iowa, there's hope for America. Hillary, Edwards et al are the past. Obama is the future. Even on the Republican side where Mike Huckabee was the improbable winner, they're looking for change.

What makes Barack Obama's message of hope particularly compelling is that it's uniquely his own, one that grows out of life experience as a son of a single white mother and an estranged Kenyan father who died shortly after reconnecting with his son. He spent childhood years in Muslim Indonesia before moving in with his white grandparents on Hawaii who pretty much raised him! Come on! No candidate can match this narrative, especially when you throw in the fact that he would be the first African-American president. How much more mythic and historic can one be. He embodies his camaign's message; it is the most authentic one out there and the people know it.

And then there's the speechifying to go with it. The words roll off the tongue -- "hope over fear, unity over division and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America."