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Harold Meyerson writes that Obama's victory in last night's caucuses was that rarity of rarities: a positive shock to the American political system.
The wind in Obama's sails just now is that of American destiny, if you view our history, as part of us always wishes to, as a long arc bending towards justice. The divisions in Washington that he rails against are real, but they are also code, Obama-code, for that greater division that has always defined us as a nation. Obama is our first leading national political figure to speak in racial code not to signal racism without actually saying anything racist, but to signal racial transcendence without actually saying we're transcending racism.The Republicans, however, are in a pickle.
If Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani continue to fade from the scene -- and it's hard to foresee circumstances under which they can turn their campaigns around -- the race comes down to Mike Huckabee, who commands virtually no support within the party's establishment for fear he'll lose like Goldwater, and John McCain, in many ways a party maverick whom the establishment cordially detests even as it's coming to recognize it may have to rally behind him. (Iowa makes McCain the prohibitive favorite to win here in New Hampshire next Tuesday.)Read the rest (and comment) here.--The Editors
