Is this troubled nation ready for change?
US correspondent Rupert Cornwell examines the mood of America and asks if the young pretender can really defeat the combative McCainSaturday, 1 November 2008
Who, back then, could have imagined what would follow? On the glacially cold morning of 10 February 2007, I stood shivering in the crowd outside the Old State House in Springfield, Illinois, as Barack Obama formally declared himself a candidate to be the 44th President of the United States.
The very thought that, for the first time, an African-American and a relative political newcomer to boot, had a small but realistic chance of entering the Oval Office made the moment fascinating enough. There was also a small personal conceit. Back in October 1991, I had travelled to Little Rock to watch a young governor of Arkansas make a similar announcement. Bill Clinton went all the way. So, would lightning strike twice – might I have stumbled on another winner?
Three days before the end of this remarkable campaign of 2008, it looks that way. Just as Clinton caught the mood of the country 16 years ago, Obama has done so now. Having been present at the creation, I watched him this week as this political fairy tale for the ages moved towards its climax. Obama was addressing an overflowing audience of 10,000 or more on the campus of James Madison University at Harrisonburg, in Virginia's Shenandoah valley, the weather was as inhospitable as in Springfield almost 21 months before. Though it wasn't even November, and the trees were still resplendent in the scarlet, rust and orange of autumn, snow showers were forecast that night.
During what has been the most gruelling election campaign ever, the candidate has aged. His frame is as lean and athletic as when it all began, but flecks of grey are now to be seen in Obama's cropped black hair. The message, however, hasn't changed. The "closing argument" he delivered in Harrisonburg is the same as that opening salvo from the steps of the Old State House: unity, hope and, most important of all, change.
Rural and spiritually of the south, the Shenandoah valley is John McCain country, in a state which has voted Republican in every election since 1964. The very fact that Obama was there during the endgame merely underlined his status as front-runner, conducting the battle on his opponent's turf. "A few weeks ago, I was supporting McCain," a woman told me as we left, her eight-year-old daughter in tow. "But now I'm leaning to Obama, and he sounded really good today." Multiply that sentiment by thousands, maybe millions, and you have the story of this last six weeks of the campaign. .......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/race-for-whitehouse/is-this-troubled-nation-ready-for-change-981733.html 
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