Republican 'Obamacans' could be key to Obama victory
WASHINGTON, Feb 18, 2008 (AFP) — It's one of his funniest campaign jokes, getting huge laughs, but it underscores what could be absolutely crucial to Barack Obama's White House hopes: the fact that some Republicans secretly back him.
"There's one right there, an 'Obamacan,' that's what we call them," the Democratic senator declared last week after winning primary contests for his party's presidential nomination in Maryland, Washington DC and Virginia.
"They whisper to me. They say, 'Barack, I'm a Republican, but I support you.' And I say, 'Thank you. Why are we whispering?'"
Obama has cracked the joke in every campaign speech since his win in Iowa on January 3. He tells it with a stage whisper into the mike, and can get a stadium packed with 16,000 supporters to burst out laughing.
But the point is not just to warm up the crowd: Obama is also underscoring that he has the ability to win the presidential vote, and then to govern effectively, transcending partisan strains, unlike his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who is reviled by conservatives.
"It's a choice between going into this election with Republicans and independents already united against us, or going against their nominee with a campaign that has united Americans of all parties, from all backgrounds, from all races, from all religions, around a common purpose," Obama said on the night of the Super Tuesday primaries on February 5.
Obama is eyeing what would amount to a reshaping of the political landscape, forging a majority of his own supporters in his own name.
That would track the success almost 30 years ago of Ronald Reagan in building a bridge to so-called "Reagan Democrats," middle class voters disappointed by Jimmy Carter's presidency who helped "Great Communicator" Reagan to build a presidency popular even today.
Obama's primary victories over Clinton in states that voted for Republican President George W. Bush in 2000 or 2004, and in those where members of other parties are allowed to vote in Democratic primaries, effectively showed that he is capable of generating the largest crossover vote.
Last Tuesday, seven percent of voters in the Virginia Democratic primary described themselves as Republicans, and nearly three-quarters of that group chose Obama.
In Iowa, when there still were seven Democrats in the race, the Illinois senator attracted 44 percent of the crossover vote.
That could be crucial in November, as current polls show the US electorate closely split between Republican and Democratic candidates, with some six percent undecided, according to independent campaign tracker RealClearPolitics.com.
In addition to rank-and-file "Obamacans," Obama has secured the support of prominent Republicans such as Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of former president Dwight Eisenhower, and former senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.
"I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to restore American credibility," declared Chafee, the only Republican senator to vote against the Iraq war in 2002.
Eisenhower described Obama as a man who can "salve our national wounds and both inspire and pursue genuine bipartisan cooperation."
If the Democrats choose Obama as their candidate, she wrote, "this lifelong Republican will work to get him elected and encourage him to seek strategic solutions to meet America's greatest challenges."
"To be successful, our president will need bipartisan help."
