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The Bush administration was half over before most Americans had even heard of Barack Obama. With just one speech, at the 2004 Democratic convention, he made himself a contender. His official campaign began in Springfield, Ill., an echo of Lincoln, and ended at Chicago’s Grant Park, a redemption for the Democrats’ worst moment, in 1968. He outorganized and outlasted the House of Clinton, and then he jogged to the finish line on November 8. He seemed to come at politics from a different angle, and people flocked to him. In a decade that will be known for the bubbles it pumped up, is he for real?
This article appeared in the Saturday, January 17, 2009 edition of National Journal.
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