The Obama Opportunity (Govs Sebelius, Napolitano & Sen McCaskill)

[propol]

The Obama Opportunity
The Wall Street Journal | February 04, 2008
By JANET NAPOLITANO, KATHLEEN SEBELIUS and CLAIRE MCCASKILL

Once in a generation, an opportunity comes along -- not just for the Democratic Party, but for the United States of America -- to build a new majority for change. Barack Obama's candidacy offers us that opportunity. As Democrats, and as Americans, we must seize it. In his campaign, Mr. Obama has built a movement for change from the bottom up. He draws enormous crowds. He has shattered fundraising records, with some 650,000 contributors and a seemingly limitless ability to tap small donors. He has inspired a flood of new voters, particularly young Americans. He's reached independents and Republicans who have voted for him by large margins. He's won with a diverse coalition, scoring decisive wins in the demographically different states of Iowa and South Carolina. And as the campaign goes national, polls show that the more voters see of Mr. Obama, the more they support him.





...As Democrats from so-called Red States, we know that the way to win elections is not just by blaming Mr. Bush, or building campaigns focused on beating the other side -- it's by bringing people together. Americans are fed up with a divisive brand of politics that is more about scoring points than solving problems. To win in November -- and to govern this country -- we should not choose to be a party that extends an era of bitter partisanship; we must be the party that ends it.
Barack Obama is running for president to do just that. His life's work has been dedicated to bringing people together around a common purpose. As a community organizer, he bridged divides of race and class to fight for jobs for the jobless on the streets of Chicago. As a state senator, he brought Republicans and Democrats together to expand health care and provide a tax cut for working families. And as a U.S. senator, he worked across the aisle to secure loose nuclear materials around the world, and took on powerful interests in both parties to draft and pass the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate.
No matter how Democrats vote in this election, they will make history. The choice is not between race and gender. It is between the past and the future. We know the Republicans will try to unite their party by fighting the old partisan battles. If we choose Mr. Obama as our nominee, the Republicans won't be able to make this election about the past because we will have already chosen the future -- a nominee who can bring all of us together, push back against the special interests, and offer leadership that is honest, open and inspiring.

For the sake of our party and our country, we cannot let this opportunity pass. Now is the time to build a coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans that finally stretches across Red States and Blue States. Now is the time for us to have the courage to choose to change. Now is the time for Barack Obama.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120209506834139945.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries