Unity is the great need of the hour

Senator Barack Obama’s victories in Iowa and recently in South Carolina challenge the traditional discourse held by the media and observers. The likelihood to see a black American man or a woman taking place in the oval office has fed the debate on voters’ segmentation. Indeed, according to political commentators, there would have a black vote, a white vote, a Latino vote or a woman vote. Thus, state after state, political pundits try to anticipate the results of the vote based on the sociological population of the state.
Obama’s victories in Iowa and in South Carolina demonstrate that he can no longer be considered as the candidate of the sole African American community. It is true that South Carolina has an important black population, but Iowa is said to be a “white” state. These victories point out that Obama’s speech transcends the communities and the races and that the democratic candidate has reached this universal posture that is necessary for a man who wants to be the president of such a large and diverse country. On the Clinton’s side, the strategy seems to be to describe Barack Obama as the candidate of a sole community. Bill Clinton’s recent comparison between Obama and the black pastor Jesse Jackson is the evidence that Hillary Clinton has an interest in maintaining the illusion of a segmented vote. By stating that “unity is the great need of the hour,” Barack Obama has bet that this era is over.