Fatimah Ali: The triumph of Obamania
I CRIED buckets when I realized that a prior commitment would prevent me from going to the rally for Barack Obama in Vernon Park in Germantown on Saturday.
I CRIED buckets when I realized that a prior commitment would prevent me from going to the rally for Barack Obama in Vernon Park in Germantown on Saturday.
Instead, I dutifully got up at 4 a.m. to drive to the state capital to fulfill my other professional obligations and promote the CHIP at Family Day held at Harrisburg High School.
I sent two of my daughters to see Obama and report back to me on their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in history in the making.
The 21-year-old, who dutifully took her 12-year-old sister and bought two Obama shirts for her boyfriend, was duly chastised for not bringing me one.
But I softened up as the warrior of my four daughters, who normally keeps her emotions under wraps, said that Obama moved her to tears.
"It's the way that he inspires people," she told me enthusiastically, still in awe. "McCain is so stiff, he always looks like he's mad." I agreed, especially when he's pointing to "that one," as he calls Obama.
The latest Newsweek poll shows Obama leading McCain 52-41 percent, and McCain looks like he's ready to implode.
That same poll indicates that 82 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the status quo and that President Bush, who has historically low ratings, is leaving the nation in financial shambles.
'MAVERICK" or not, McCain looks frightened and bitter and seems to lack the confidence he had when he introduced Sarah Palin.
Plenty of voters now realize that her role was to distract us from the issues as she got a chance to practice for the future. French film legend-turned-activist Brigitte Bardot calls her a "disgrace to women," but I take those sentiments a step further.
Palin's not only a disgrace to the rest of us who wear lipstick and heels, but also to the entire GOP. Whoever had the idea of anointing her as McCain's running mate has made a mockery of presidential politics.
After her first disastrous interview with Charles Gibson and the subsequent one with CBS' Katie Couric, voters caught on that she isn't exactly the sharpest tack in the box.
And her (wouldn't answer any questions) debate with Joe Biden was further proof of her intellectual limitations.
As the hockey mom was booed when she dropped the first puck over the weekend at the Flyers game, I couldn't help but be reminded that folks are more worried about everyday challenges, like keeping up with their mortgages and feeding their families, than they are with a winking beauty queen who believes in this irresponsible war that we can ill afford.
McCain has only himself to blame for his recent poll slippage because he's continued to exhibit the same poor judgment that prompted him to choose such a weak running mate in the first place. He's also had to retool his campaign's negative behavior as his numbers continue to fall.
People want to be engaged in their own lives, and when you get right down to it, Obama inspires us to believe that we can each do that successfully.
His four-stop tour here left Philadelphians feeling enlightened and invigorated and even prompted my usually private daughter to excitedly share her notes with me. She said he urged voters to recognize the final verdict of George Bush's economics and ask them to pledge to rebuild America. He also said it is not a time for fear.
Now, even die-hard Republicans, at one time optimistic for a win next month, are anxious about losing. And they have very good reason to feel that way.
Renee Amoore, a ranking member of the Pennsylvania Republican state committee since 1992, says she wishes her party would quit all of the negative-campaigning shenanigans and get back to important issues like health care, jobs and taxes.
When I pressed her further on whether she'd cross party lines to vote for Obama, she refused to commit either way, saying only that she'd make that call after meeting with party officials.
To me, that's a signal that plenty of other thinking Republicans also blame their party for America's current credit crisis and debt so deep that nearly every American feels the pain.
And we still haven't seen the worst of it.
That Palin is on the GOP ticket isn't nearly as surprising, or as scary, as the possibility that she may be planning to run for president in four years. *
Fatimah Ali is a regular contributor. E-mail her at