If nominated, Obama's family baggage will get pored over. Four years ago, Bush's people cast Kerry as un-American for speaking French. A Republican camp campaigning at the sorry nadir of Bush's handiwork will try to portray the war hero John McCain as more American and patriotic than his opponent.
But things are different. Less fearful, Americans are less willing to be manipulated. They've backed Obama this far in part because they're sick of the narrow American exceptionalism of Bush's divisive rule.
I love that last line. It's stuck with me since I read it earlier today. It puts very eloquently into words what I've been feeling about this election. There is hope, and it's not born of naivete or willful stupidity or deliberate ignorance. To paraphrase Michelle Obama - and I mean it in all the ways she professed not to - I'm finally proud of my country. I just hope that we can keep up this momentum.
Obama or bust!