Senator Barrack Obama, the Illinois Senator who has stirred up enormous excitement in Democratic ranks, and among centrists and moderates in particular, has just issued an announcement that he intends to form a Presidential Exploratory Committee.
And while candidates sometimes do that and decide not to run, more often than that it means they’re running. Place your bets in Vegas on “He’s running.”
Here’s the statement in full, since it’s not on any news wires yet:
Dear Friend,
As you may know, over the last few months I have been thinking hard about my plans for 2008. Running for the presidency is a profound decision – a decision no one should make on the basis of media hype or personal ambition alone – and so before I committed myself and my family to this race, I wanted to be sure that this was right for us and, more importantly, right for the country.
I certainly didn’t expect to find myself in this position a year ago. But as I’ve spoken to many of you in my travels across the states these past months; as I’ve read your emails and read your letters; I’ve been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics.
So I’ve spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the cause of change and progress that we so desperately need.
The decisions that have been made in Washington these past six years, and the problems that have been ignored, have put our country in a precarious place. Our economy is changing rapidly, and that means profound changes for working people. Many of you have shared with me your stories about skyrocketing health care bills, the pensions you’ve lost and your struggles to pay for college for your kids. 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.
But challenging as they are, it’s not the magnitude of our problems that concerns me the most. It’s the smallness of our politics. America’s faced big problems before. But today, our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, common sense 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.
We have to change our politics, and come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans.
This won’t happen by itself. A change in our politics can only come from you; from people across our country who believe there’s a better way and are willing to work for it.
Years ago, as a community organizer in Chicago, I learned that meaningful change always begins at the grassroots, and that engaged citizens working together can accomplish extraordinary things.
So even in the midst of the enormous challenges we face today, I have great faith and hope about the future – because I believe in you.
And that’s why I wanted to tell you first that I’ll be filing papers today to create a presidential exploratory committee. For the next several weeks, I am going to talk with people from around the country, listening and learning more about the challenges we face as a nation, the opportunities that lie before us, and the role that a presidential campaign might play in bringing our country together. And on February 10th, at the end of these decisions and in my home state of Illinois, I’ll share my plans with my friends, neighbors and fellow Americans.
In the meantime, I want to thank all of you for your time, your suggestions, your encouragement and your prayers. And I look forward to continuing our conversation in the weeks and months to come.
Sincerely,
U.S. Senator Barack Obama
Candidates in both parties are clearly starting a bit early this year. So expect the detailed discussions — and some sniping — to begin. Prediction: with such an early start on both sides, it’s likely that more than ever the actual nominees could be essentially decided by early 2008, early Spring by the latest.
Obama’s injection of the “C” (charisma) factor will likely change the tone on the Democratic side. John Edwards has it some of the time; Senator Hillary Clinton may have to work for it. Message and content are critical, but communications skills — communicating a message to a media that includes radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, and Internet news/opinion delivery technology — do matter. And who will win the battle of images on You Tube?
NOTE: Right after us posting this it appeared on Google’s front page. More on this later.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.