HOW OBAMA DID IT. BY CHINYERE OBINNA. O.

Republicans everywhere are still scratching their heads in consternation wondering what hit them, how it could be that their long entrenched reign over the American political system was so effortlessly dismantled by the entry of a brash young junior State Senator from Illinois, a man with a name like Barrack Hussein Obama and a dark skin tone to match. How it could be possible that despite their elaborately laid out plans, their great wealth, power and clout, their negative campaign that relied heavily on a relentless fusillade of accusations based on falsehoods, the exploitation of the differences that divided us, on biases and fear mongering, on innuendos and dissension, that the man they labeled as a threat to the national security, not fit to govern, had soared far above their bickering and infighting to become a symbol of hope, of inspiration, of the power and the truth of the principle of believing that anything can be possible in our great country of America if you stay true to your goals and work hard enough at it, if you believe in the audacity of hope.

The Obama story reads like a true epic with our hero swooping in to save the American economy at a time that so many hopes and dreams had been crumbled as a result of the gross mismanagement of the prior regime. The name Obama inspires awe and admiration from people who truly understand what a great symbol of hope he is. But there is more to this story. It is as if Obama had been preparing for this moment all his life, a life that it seemed had all the odds stacked against the possibility that such a thing could happen. Born to a white mother of Irish, English and German descent and an African father from Kenya in East Africa in an era when the civil rights movement was in full swing, Barrack Obama grew up in a household without his father; his parents separated and subsequently divorced when he was only two years old and his mother eventually remarried and moved the family to Indonesia.

Obama attended Columbia University and graduated with a degree in Political Science and a minor in International Relations. He went on to Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 1991. At the end of his first year at Harvard University, he earned a position as an editor at the Prestigious Harvard Law Review based on his academic performance and the outcome of a writing competition. The following year he was elected the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review, a volunteer position that made him editor-in-chief of the paper, supervising about eighty editors. This led to a fellowship with the University of Chicago law school and a lucrative book contract, which produced his first memoir, Dreams from my father, published in 1995, a book whose audio version garnered a grammy award in 2006 as the best spoken word album. Obama worked as a Law Lecturer at the University of Chicago for twelve years and also worked as an activist and a community organizer, turning down the lucrative jobs offers that came from prestigious law firms to work with the communities for change.

Barrack Obama met his wife Michelle, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, in June 1989 when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. They became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. They have two children Malia Ann and Natasha. His wife Michelle has proven to be a worthy partner, as intelligent and articulate as she is warm and hospitable. Their marriage seems an exceptional example of true love and dedication that appears to grow stronger each day. Her intelligent presence and support has been a tonic for the team Obama.

The Dream
The Obama campaign was a brilliantly imagined, flawlessly executed series of maneuvers that was perfectly executed from start to finish. The Obama dream team consisted of people who believed in his brilliance and his ability to propel American into a new era. His dreams of change was infectious and all across America and around the world, people of all ages, religion, creed, background, sex, caught the Obama fever, a fever that continued to spread good will across the world and garner him support from people across the spectrum. His opponents realized the magic that lay in this man and were driven to desperate measures. Hillary Clinton, though a very worthy opponent, could not beat him. And John McCain, well that's another story.

Soaring up the mountain top. President elect Barack Obama has a gift of generating pure excitement in people who have never met him. His entry into the presidential electoral landscape infused fresh, unparalleled energy into the process that saw voter apathy evaporate and a record number of people registering to vote for the first time, in fact almost overwhelming the electoral. All across America, people across all demographic lines raced to become a part of the process. The youth, which included college educated people threw in their support for Obama and rolled up their shirtsleeves to work for his campaign. People from every region of the world threw in their support of him. In Nigeria, a group raised millions of Naira for his campaign, an exercise that ended in futility as it is illegal for a foreign group to donate to a US presidential candidate. As I reported earlier in my blog, the Obama campaign turned down the offer. Even the homeless people were reportedly eager to be a part of the process. How did Obama do it? How did he raise so much interest and make people actually believe that a man of color could actually overcome the great hurdle that was inherent in the system and become the president of the United States?

A Brilliant Mind. Obama Obama has a gift of projecting the brilliance that is an inherent part of him. He only needs to open his mouth and you just know. He has an ability to move people with his articulate, oratory gift, which has been compared to the gift of Dr. Martin Luther King. His speeches, often delivered in a calm but urgent cadence gives the hearer a glimpse of the brilliance that is Obama. Obama knew that as a black man in America, you have to be the best at what you do. He laid the foundation by attending the best schools, Columbia and then Harvard University, where he quickly rose to be the president of the prestigious Harvard Law review. He also gave up lucrative jobs to work for the community as a community organizer, a Civil Rights Attorney, and then an Illinois State Senator. Many would wonder why he chose such a humble path on his journey to the presidency, but then, it is this ability to serve that is at the heart of his success.

Planning. Obama surrounded himself with the best, who worked round the clock to get him where he is today. They believed in him and saw beyond his skin color to the brilliant leader that he is. They were ahead of the pack, recruiting people from the grassroots, using the information superhighway technology to promote Obama. His Face Book profile garnered over a million friends, who threw in their support for Obama. One of his preliminary rivals, the former Mayor of New York Giuliani, experienced humiliation when it was discovered that his own daughter had joined the Obama camp on Face Book, showing that she was supporting Obama for president, and not her father. Across America, others joined as they rolled up their shirt sleeves, and opened up their pocket books, donating a record breaking $640million to his campaign.

His Vision.
Obama had vision and knew exactly what his agenda was. He was consistent and never wavered with the wind as did his Republican rival.
His resilience.
He stuck to the issues and did not allow his opponent's negative mud-slinging to distract him. No matter how much vitriol the McCain camp threw in his direction, Obama had the uncanny ability to sidestep the vicious traps that his opponent laid across his path, while sticking only to the issues, and outlining exactly what he planned to do for the American people. He had the uncanny ability to make his opponent look foolish and left them engaging in desperate measures to try to get ahead.

The Rivals.
Obama had a formidable set of opponents that could have destroyed a man of lesser qualities, but they under-estimated Obama. The Republican party had built a strong, fort-like campaign, and were adept at discrediting their opponents using the preemptive strike, keeping their opponents scrambling to defend themselves against the fusillades of accusations and allegations that kept coming. This worked against Al Gore and against John Kerry, who won the popular vote, only to fall victim to the electoral college count. The Republican McCain started out as self assured, building on his image as the war hero, proclaiming himself the maverick. But as the campaign continued to unfurl, it became clear that John McCain had no clear agenda other than the fact that his opponent was a junior that had to be unseated by any means necessary, which included inciting fear and distrust for Obama amongst his supporters. During the first presidential debate, he appeared affronted that Obama dared to challenge him and could not hide his disregard. Obama, however, rose above the pettiness, sticking to the issues, thereby showing that he indeed had presidential qualities. During the second debate, McCain tried to duck by using the Economic downturn to position himself as being in charge. He gave the impression that he wanted to postpone the debate because he had the interest of the country at heart and wanted to help lawmakers in Washington fix the mess. Days earlier, he had pronounced the fundamentals of the American economy as strong. And then Wall street collapsed, showing that he was out of touch with what was really taking place in America. Invariably, he had to participate in the debate and the American people took note. Obama's sterling qualities brought supporters to his side in droves as even people from the Republican side began to admit that John McCain's chances of winning were indeed quite slim.

The Palin Factor.
When John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, conservative Republicans everywhere rejoiced. Indeed, her introduction as McCain's running mate almost instantaneously infused fresh fresh energy into the party's sagging ratings. She was touted as a fresh faced average hockey mom that was not part of the "old boy's club" as she claimed, someone that would also bring home the undecided voters, the independents, and most importantly, the supporters of Hillary Clinton, who were still disenchanted with the fact that Obama was chosen. Mccain was hailed as a maverick for picking her, but I knew better. The next day after her selection, two of my colleagues declared that McCain would be the winner of the election, and that his pick of Sarah Palin would propel him to the top. I differed with them on the grounds that I believed that McCain's pick was too hasty and showed that he was more eager to win than he was about what really happened to the American people. Obama was smart enough to pick Biden, who counterbalanced his weakness, which was his lack of years in the Senate. To me, McCain had displayed his weakness by picking the exact quality that he decried in Obama, by picking a running mate that had not been vested and was virtually unknown till then. I told them to watch and see what would happen. The rest is history as Palin proceeded to expose her lack of knowledge, while too eager to regurgitate all the scripted information that she had been coached. In the end, it was Sarah Palin who became a poster child for ignorance and ultimately led to the failure of the McCain ticket.
History will record this as a presidential campaign unlike any other. In the end, Mccain accused, Palin embellished, and Obama won. God bless you all.