History on the Hill: Obama and Beyond
By this point, the basic details of the biography of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, are well known (and examined here). With only two years of experience in the Senate, his record is just developing, though he has put forward a number of bills and resolutions and is proving himself an effective coalition builder, cosponsoring initiatives with Republicans. Obama, 45, seems to be acting on the ideas espoused in his bestselling book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.
How Obama fares in his presidential campaign will be a subject of lively interest. But before the primaries begin, savor what his candidacy represents overall, suggests Braun: "Given all the fights, the efforts for enfranchisement for black people and for women, when you consider all of that, to get to this point where it is assumed that a woman has a right to hold political office, where it is assumed that a black person can serve—that is a major step in what I consider to be the right direction for our country. ... It's that expectation of equality that should be applauded."
And that will hold true even if Obama loses. "We will still have one black senator who is in his 40s who clearly has a very long political career ahead," says Graham.
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