Obama takes first step in White House bid
Staff and agencies
Tuesday January 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The Democratic senator Barack Obama today confirmed he was taking the first formal step towards a presidential campaign that could make him the first black American to occupy the White House.
Mr Obama, an Illinois senator, announced plans to file a presidential exploratory committee on his website. He said he would announce more about his intentions in his hometown, Chicago, next month.
"I didn't expect to find myself in this position a year ago," he said in a webcast. "I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics. So I spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the cause of change and progress we so desperately need."
Mr Obama said the decisions made by the Bush administration over the past six years, and the problems that had been ignored, had put the US "in a precarious place".
"Many of you have shared with me your stories about skyrocketing healthcare bills, the pensions you've lost and your struggles to pay for college for your kids," he said.
"Our continued dependence on oil has put our security and our very planet at risk. And we're still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged."
Despite the "magnitude of our problems", what concerned Mr Obama most was the "smallness of our politics", he added. "America's faced big problems before," he said. "But today, our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, commonsense way.
"Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that's what we have to change first."
Mr Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961 to the son of a Kenyan who had herded goats with his father, a domestic servant to Kenya's colonial rulers, as a child.
Barack Obama Snr left Kenya on an academic scholarship and met and married Ann Dunham, born in the mid-western state of Kansas, while they were students at the university of Hawaii.
At public engagements in recent months, Mr Obama has been met by often ecstatic crowds who have urged him to announce an exploratory committee - an organisation established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office.
Last month, John DiStaso - a political columnist on the Union Leader, New Hampshire's largest newspaper - who has been covering the primaries since 1980, said he was astonished by such excitement so early in the electoral cycle.
Mr Obama's new book, the Audacity of Hope, has been number two in the bestseller lists of both the New York Times and Amazon.
His announcement increases the likelihood of him competing against Hillary Clinton to become the Democractic candidate in next year's presidential election, with the New York senator expected to reveal her intentions in the near future.
Rivals start to drop out as rising star Obama takes first steps in race for presidency
· Frontrunner Clinton faces strong challenge
· Candidate says he is surprised by rapid rise
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday January 17, 2007
The Guardian
Senator Barack Obama, the rising young star of the Democratic party, took his first step into the 2008 presidential contest yesterday, raising the temperature in an already heated race.
Mr Obama's video address on his campaign website was merely a dress rehearsal: the announcement of an exploratory committee to raise funds and build a campaign team. He is to make an official announcement of his candidacy in his home town of Chicago on February 10.
But the sheer possibility of an African-American president, and Mr Obama's electrifying effect on Democratic voters, assured yesterday's announcement widespread attention.
Mr Obama, 45, and a senator for only two years, was candid about his rapid rise. Vaulted to the national stage by his keynote address to the Democratic party convention in 2004, in recent weeks Mr Obama has been elevated to the ranks of superstardom, thrilling audiences in New Hampshire and on a visit to Kenya in a celebrity that seems to have taken even him by surprise. "I certainly didn't expect to find myself in this position a year ago," he admitted yesterday.
In his video address, Mr Obama casts himself as someone untainted by the rough and tumble of politics in Washington, or by the culture wars that have obsessed the baby boomer generation. "It's not the magnitude of our problems that concerns me the most. It's the smallness of our politics."
Instead, he says he offers an escape from the dirty world of politics, and the prospect of reform.
"Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions," he says. "And that's what we have to change first. We have to change our politics, and come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans."
The sunny optimism that overlay the video was not tempered by policy specifics.
As the 2008 race gets off to an unusually early start, Mr Obama's move presents the greatest threat to Hillary Clinton, who was crowned an early frontrunner by virtue of her fundraising prowess and the reflected glory of Bill Clinton.
However, Ms Clinton is seen as a polarising figure and her ambiguity on Iraq - she voted for the use of force in 2002 - could come back to haunt her now that the country has turned against the war.
As George Bush's popularity plummeted, Ms Clinton has since said she would not have voted for the war if she had known how it would turn out.
Mr Obama, in contrast, did not operate under the burdens of being an elected senator in 2002. He opposed the invasion, and spoke at anti-war demonstrations in the run-up to the invasion. In recent days, however, he has refused to say whether he would try to block funds for a troop increase as some fellow senators now demand. Yesterday he touched only briefly on the war saying: "We're still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged."
The other strong contender in the Democratic field is a former senator from North Carolina, John Edwards, battle-tested after the 2004 elections when he served as a running mate to John Kerry, and newly minted as a strong opponent of the war.
Other Democratic contenders are at risk of being outshone by the sheer force of Mr Obama's charisma, or the name recognition of Mr Edwards and Ms Clinton. The eclipsed contenders include Tom Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa from a hardscrabble background, Chris Dodd, a Senator from Connecticut, and Dennis Kucinich, a leftwing congressman from Ohio.
Even in this crowded field, other veteran Democrats are considering their options for 2008, including Senator John Kerry, the contender in 2004, and Senator Joe Biden, the powerful chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee.
However, other potential contenders were discouraged by Mr Obama's celebrity. Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana withdrew from the race, citing the difficulties of putting his message across in a field dominated by celebrities. Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin also took himself out of the running.
For Democrats, Mr Obama represents the possibility of change, a hope he has nurtured since the Democratic convention. It is also embodied in Mr Obama's personal story. The son of a Kenyan father and a white woman from Kansas, Obama was the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review. After a few years as a community organiser in the South Side of Chicago, he was elected to the Illinois state senate in 1996.
Mr Obama might still be there but for a lucky break in the 2004 Senate race when the original Republican opponent was forced to drop out because of a divorce scandal. Along the way, Mr Obama wrote two bestselling autobiographical books, winning a Grammy award for the audio version of one of them.
Presidential hopefuls
Democrats
Hillary Clinton: Seen as a potential candidate since first elected senator for New York in 2000. A fundraising powerhouse, but ambiguous about the Iraq war, which could hurt her. May make a declaration this week.
Barack Obama: Junior senator from Illinois and a rising star since his electrifying speech to the 2004 party convention. His lack of experience is made up for by his appeal to audiences from New Hampshire to Kenya, where his father hails from. Opposed Iraq war.
John Edwards: Veteran of the campaign trail as John Kerry's 2004 running mate. He has staked out ground on the left, with an anti-poverty platform. Opposed Iraq war.
Republicans
John McCain: Former navy pilot and senator from Arizona owes his military credentials to the years spent in the "Hanoi Hilton" after being shot down in Vietnam. Backs George Bush on the troop surge.
Mitt Romney: A Mormon and son of a former Michigan governor, Romney rose to prominence for organising the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. As a Republican governor of liberal Massachusetts, he approved a ban on assault weapons and made no move to restrict abortion rights.
Sam Brownback: Kansas senator expected to make a formal announcement on Saturday, and will run on the issues that move the Republican base. Opposes abortion and stem cell research, and what he calls the "homosexual agenda", and supports creationism in state schools
Rudy Giuliani: Former New York city mayor's interest became clear this month after a strategy document was leaked. Moderate image may hurt him among primary voters.
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