Why Obama Won and a Few Reviews

A friend of mine's seven year old son appeared in a Barack Obama commercial that premiered on the giant teletron in Times Square. He is African American. On Wednesday, he arrived at school elated because he felt a part of Obama's resounding victory and a part of America's future. His ignorant white school teacher commented on the election. She attributed Obama's win to "luck."

It wasn't luck. There is no way to diminish the enormous victory of Tuesday, November 4th. And this young man, just seven years old, stood up to his teacher. "Obama won because of a lot of hard work."

At seven! He pushed back against her ignorance without flinching or hesitation.

Let's look at the hard work: There is a very interesting chart on fivethirtyeight.com that compares the direct contact between the Obama campaign and voters and that of the McCain camp. Unfortunately, not all exit polls asked voters whether they had direct contact with either or both campaigns. However, of the states reporting, McCain out contacted voters in only one state: Wyoming, the same state where Dick Cheney lives (hides) and where he endorsed McCain-Palin. In each of the battleground states, Obama outworked McCain--Nevada: 21%; Colorado 17%; Indiana 15%, and so forth. Of twelve battleground states, Obama outperformed McCain on voter contact in eleven of those states. Be sure to look through the chart.

Also according to fivethirtyeight.com, Obama outperformed Kerry from 2004 among urban white voters by 9 percentage points. That's how far Sarah Palin's city-bashing went! Obama outperformed Kerry in all demographic groups except for two: older voters--65 years of age and older, and among gay and lesbian voters. Obama's gains were especially higher among the very poor and the very rich, and among parents.

Then there is the issue of the young voter. Although young voters did not turn out in numbers that exceeded the record turnout in other age groups, their vote might have been the tipping point especially in battleground states. Eighteen to twenty-nine year olds voted for Obama 68% to McCain 30%. These figures say so much about America. It means that race might mean less to our children and grandchildren than it does for people generations past.

The New York Times has a very comprehensive chart of voting patterns by a variety of demographics--gender, age, religion, race, etc.

Did we mention the fundraising? Obama raised $650 million from 3 million contributors from both traditional sources--big donors and flashy parties, but more importantly, from small donors from the Net. The social networking aspect of the barackobama.com site was sensational. If you haven't, read Joshua Greene's "The Amazing Money Machine," in the June issue of Atlantic Monthly.

Let's also mention the discipine and dedication. A friend of mine worked in Virginia for a week canvassing. Her field office was run like a military headquarters by a nineteen year old on leave from an Ivy League college. Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, also canvassed sections of Virginia for Obama in the days preceding the election. Imagine opening the door and seeing her standing there! Another friend canvassed in rural Ohio. His office had workers in the field for twelve-thirteen hours a day, competing with each other over the number of voter contacts. Another friend who also worked in Ohio was told to delete his personal blog, because the Obama campaign spoke in a single voice. He did.

Another great story about the election. Eva, a wonderful women who was a teacher and guidance counselor in the New York and Florida schools, now in her 80s, was my father's partner for the last three years of his life. She lives in Delray Beach, Florida. She went to the polls to vote early with Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman! They came in a van to the clubhouse in her community and loaded up the residents to get to the early voting polls. However, the lines were horrendous. So, Eva drove herself to the polls on election day and went right in. No lines. She got to vote, along with 78% of the Jewish vote, for Barack Hussein Obama.

And now for something completely different. Yesterday it rained torrentially in New York City which means that the museums filled to the brim. We went to the Modern to see the Van Gogh exhibit. It's a small exhibit, just twenty or so paintings, but worth the visit, especially if you can avoid the crowds, which we didn't. If you don't live near New York, visit the website.

There were several paintings I had never seen. "Lane of Poplars at Sunset" (1884); "Toward Evening" (1885); and "Evening Landscape" (1885) are arranged across a single wall in the Early Landscape section of the exhibit. Each uses orange rather than his customary yellow to denote the fading light of day. These paintings drew me in with their beauty and simplicity. None of them has that frenetic feel of his more familiar paintings like "The Starry Night" (1889).

We also saw a revival of "Speed-the-Plow," the David Mamet play at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. It stars Elizabeth Moss from Mad Men, Jeremy Piven from Entourage, and Raul Esparza from Pushing Daisies. The audience was much younger than most, and they loved the play. Using celebrity actors to attract younger audiences to live theater is an effective and important tactic. However, for me, only Raul Esparza, the least known of the actors, performed to exceptional standards. The play is about Hollywood, and since 1988 when it first premiered, we have had shows like Entourage which are far more stinging in its revelations. Jeremy Piven was constrained in his approach because of his over-the-top portrayal of Ari Gold on Entourage (based on Ari Emanuel, the brother of Obama chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel). However, for younger folks who aren't accustomed to live theater, it's an accessible and fun way to introduce yourself to the glories of theater.

In the evening, we saw "A Body of Water," by Lee Blessing at the Primary Stages, 59 East 59th Street. The play explores the role of memory in a range of human characteristics: personality, love, relationships, self confidence, decision-making, family. The play features Christine Lahti and Michael Cristofer. I found it annoying, repetitive, and whiny. Although the physical theater is wonderful: intimate and no bad seats.