Si se puede on Super Tuesday

There is a consensus that Hispanics vote for Clinton yet in California the placards at the Obama rally read si se puede - yes we can. In an age of celebrity the Illinois senator has his pick of advocates. From politics the Kennedys (including Arnie’s missus), from TV queen Oprah and from music everyone from Stevie Wonder to the Black Eyed Peas who have penned a song for Obama (thank you Alan, aka Yank in Ulster for picking up on the song). 

Hell I wish I was in the USA today. It’s like that scene in the very first episode of the West Wing when Sam asks Josh on the street outside his NY law office if Bartlett is ’the real thing’.

Too good to be true I hear you say. Lets face it the West Wing was just good fiction. Maybe but then maybe not. What if when I write the next post Barack Obama has done enough to keep himself neck and neck with the finest Democratic Party dynasty since the Kennedys. What if committed democrats realise that everywhere there is an open primary (one in which independent voters can vote) Obama is leading and conclude that he can reach beyond the party loyalists and run all the way up Pennsylvania Avenue to an inauguration speech for the history books.

Bottom line about progressive politics is that it is not just about mobilising the progressives, it’s mobilising the middle ground also. They are the people who do not consider themselves radical or even progressive for that matter. ‘Ordinary’ people who care about their jobs, their families and their next holiday – the many millions who catapult a candidate into the power. This is the electability test for any democratic candidate and the key message Obama and his people need to communicate. He crosses the divide – she doesn’t.

Young Chris Brown from Downpatrick got a ticket to see Obama in Boston yesterday evening. Our account manager is a Clintonite and not an easy man to shift. The text this morning read: “Obama totally awesome – 15ft from Teddy K, John Kerry, C Kennedy, Gov of Mass and 2 congressmen. He spoke for 45 min off the cuff. 4000 there. Had 2 q for 2 hours in the cold I will never be in the same room of that line up again. Pics to follow”. I think Barack may have recruited himself another advocate.

Spainish has given us many a great political slogan:

• hasta la vitoria siempre
• el pueblo unido jamas sera vencido
• No pasaran!

Will si se puede join the political lexicon on Super Tuesday?