Why Obama Won Big in South Carolina: The Vision Thing

South Carolina Democrats dealt a stinging rebuke to Bill and Hillary Clinton's brand of smear-and-distortion politics on January 26, 2008, and loudly, firmly, proudly delivered victory to Barack Obama's politics of unity and change.

Per MSNBC's exit poll data, Sen. Obama's massive victory transcended race, age, religion, gender, wealth and issue concerns:

• Women, who comprised 61% of voters, voted for Obama over Clinton 54% to 30%.
• Men voted for Obama over Clinton 54% to 23%.
• Black women voted for Obama over Clinton 78% to 20%.
• Black men voted for Obama over Clinton 80% to 17%.
• Every age category, except those over 65, favored Obama over Clinton.
• Voters age 30 to 44 voted for Obama over Clinton 62% to 23%.
• Every family income category favored Obama over Clinton.
• Every education level category favored Obama over Clinton.
• Every religious faith category, from once a week to never, voted for Obama over Clinton.
• Both married and single favored Obama over Clinton.
• Those who rated the economy, the Iraq War and health care as the top issue all voted for Obama over Clinton.

And of the 54% of voters who rated "Can bring about needed change" as the #1 candidate quality that matters, they voted for Obama 75% to 15%. Interestingly, John Edwards garnered 45% of the white male vote, while Obama and Clinton split the remainder.

A full 23% of voters were Independents... a group that favored Obama over Clinton 42% to 26%.

The only polling data categories of South Carolina voters who clearly favored Clinton over Obama were:

• White females voted 42% for Clinton, 36% for Edwards and 22% for Obama.
• Non-black Democrats voted for Clinton 42%, Edwards 35% and Obama 23%.
• Of the 14% of voters who believe that "the right experience" is the #1 most important candidate quality, 84% voted for Clinton.

Here's What the Exit Poll Data Means
Here's the real deal: Americans are sick and tired of the dishonesty and arrogance of the Bush Administration, and long ago grew weary of Bushie dirty trickster-spinmeister Karl Rove. No rational person, conservative or liberal, even argues this point.

And yet, puzzlingly, Bill and Hillary Clinton conducted themselves in both the Nevada and South Carolina campaigns like Karl Rove clones. The Clintons used classics from the Rove campaign manual: smearing, distorting, mud-slinging, self-pitying tantrums, sleazy last-minute "robocalls" about both Obama and Edwards.

Been there, done that. And it hasn't worked out so well for our country: a misguided and bankrupting war, a teetering economy, innumerable tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, millions more children and families without insurance, a deterioriating education system, sky-high gas prices, the richest corporate profits in the history of the world, and on and on and on...

When Barack Obama talks about change, he means change from the calculated politics that divide Americans. He means change from the very politics that the Clintons, lately, have been practicing.

Which is such a sad, significant contrast to the fresh politics of change preached by Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992.

The "Vision Thing" of the 1992 Presidential Race
I distinctly remember a detached incumbent President George H.W. Bush profess to not grasping "The Vision Thing."

And a fortysomething, energized Bill Clinton sought to inspire and uplift, and to move the country forward out of its malaise. Bill Clinton openly lamented in disbelief that Bush Sr. didn't get "The Vision Thing."

Wrote the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne in a January 25, 2008 column, The Ideas that Bill Forgot:

" Obama's not particularly original insight (about Ronald Reagan) was a central premise of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. Clinton argued over and over that Democrats could not win without new ideas of their own.

"To reread Clinton's 'New Covenant' speeches from back then is to be reminded of how electrifying it was to hear a politician who was willing to break new ground.

"That's why the Clintons' assault on Obama is so depressing. In many ways, Obama is running the 2008 version of the 1992 Clinton campaign."

Bill Clinton now cynically refers to "The Vision Thing" as a "fairy tale," and Hillary Clinton harshly credited the hard pragmatism of President Lyndon Johnson over "The Vision Thing" of Martin Luther King, Jr for landmark civil rights legislation.

Somewhere along the way, the Clintons seem to have lost their own vision. Somewhere along the way, the Clintons became the unimaginative Bushies in behavior and deed.

Voters in South Carolina want "The Vision Thing" of hope for a better day, not the dark, starless nights of more Roves and visionless Bushies.

South Carolinians see and sense that incandescent hope beyond rancorous partisanship stalemate in Barack Obama.

As Caroline Kennedy writes in a New York Times Op-Ed on January 27, 2008:

" Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.

"I want a president:

• who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it;
• who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards;
• who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and
• who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.

"I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans...

"That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama."

Call it "The Vision Thing." Like Caroline Kennedy, I will be voting for it on February 5th.

(Photo taken in South Carolina on January 26, 2008: Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Related Reading
Barack Obama's Inspiring 2004 Democratic Convention Speech
Barack Obama's Stirring Iowa Victory Speech
Clinton Draws Party Anger: Is Hillary Playing Fair?

New York Times Op-Ed by Caroline Kennedy, Jan 27, 2008: A President Like My Father