OBAMA RISING
All but assured to become the fifth Black American to hold a seat in the U.S. Senate, Obama represents to many the emergence of a new generation of national political leadership
By Ronald Roach
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.
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"We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools," a dapper, blue-suited Obama told about 150 students at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield. "We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible."
On a tour that begins in Chicago and includes stops in Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, and at an academic center in East St. Louis, Obama announces plans to boost college affordability, while expressing support for the role that community colleges and vocational schools play. He backs the idea of having all college loan programs managed by the federal government, instead of allowing a portion of them to be managed by private lenders.
"We would save $4.5 billion annually if we made all student loans directly by the government," Obama told students and faculty members at Lincoln Land Community College.
In the college affordability talks, Obama did not mention his challenger, Dr. Alan Keyes, by name and simply attacked the Bush administration for its higher education policies. Obama and Keyes are competing for the seat currently occupied by Republican U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, who announced his intention not to seek re-election. The mostly White crowds at the Illinois Central College campus in Peoria and at Lincoln Land Community College cheered the message, which included specifics on the profits going to private lenders that could be channeled back into additional loans and grants for students.
"We're pleased when Illinois Central College is a stop for political candidates. We're happy that our students can hear firsthand what candidates have to say," says Dr. John S. Erwin, the president of Illinois Central College.
By late September, Obama's message on issues such as higher education, economic development and health care had helped propel him to a 45-percentage point lead over the controversial Keyes. According to a poll by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch/KMOV-TV polling operation, Obama led the Senate race with 68 percent to Keyes' 23 percent. Nine percent were undecided.
"I think the Keyes candidacy is in deep trouble," says political scientist Dr. John S. Jackson of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, adding that the conservative Maryland-based political commentator was alienating moderate Republicans and independent voters with his ultra conservative positions and statements.
As a political story, Obama's move into national political prominence seems to far outshine that of the failing Keyes candidacy. Political analysts have focused on the rise of Obama, a native of Hawaii born to a Black Kenyan economist and a White woman from Kansas, from a little-known state senator representing a southside Chicago district to a national political figure.
All but assured to become the fifth Black American to hold a seat in the U.S. Senate, Obama represents to many the emergence of a new generation of national political leadership. His speech at the national convention, drawing rave reviews for its eloquence and patriotic message, prompted commentators to trumpet him as a likely contender to be the first Black U.S. president.
"He was put there to support the ticket, to hit the themes, and he did his job. And on that he got, I think, an accolade of a rising star and so forth," says Dr. Ronald Walters, a political scientist at the University of Maryland. "I tend to think that speech was one that tried to identify (Obama) as a non-racial politician, that tried to connect with his immigrant roots, and tried to meet the theme of diversity that was thrust upon him. It was a theme that went over great with everybody in the convention — Blacks, Whites, everyone."
