Hillary Clinton's campaign model is a very tired Washington model: 'I'll do these things for you.' Barack's model is 'Let's do these things together.' This has been the premise of Barack's politics all his life, going back to his days as a community organizer. He has really lived and breathed it, which is why it comes across so authentically.
Of course, the time also has to be right for the man and the moment to come together. And, after all the country has been through over the last seven years, the times are definitely right for the message that the only way to get real change is to activate the American people to demand it. –From an interview with Arianna Huffington
It is all about the historical moment. You cannot make a decision about these candidates as if they were abstracted from the current historical context. Competency and experience are not irrelevant (although I challenge the idea that even this is something Clinton has in some significant way that Obama does not), leadership style and judgment are just more relevant. Clinton's judgments are based on the realism as defined by the Beltway conventional wisdom; Obama's based on the reality of the world as it is.
That really is the difference between those who were agains the war and those who were for it. The former accepted Beltway "realism", while the latter were clearly more in touch with reality. The top-down Karl Rove types think they can create new reality through hubris and propaganda and intimidation. The Obama and MLK types know that you can change social reality from the bottom up.
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