Will Obama's presidency be as disciplined as his campaign?

While it remains to be seen if Obama will be a good President, political pundits here all agreed that Obama was a disciplined and intellectual politician.  Howard Wolpe, Director, Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity & Africa Programme, said, "he's the most extraordinary politician in our lifetime. He has really connected with the mood of the Americans, even before the financial crisis." Obama's rise was also boosted by the internal problems of the Republican side.

Obama came when Republicans were in bad shape. David Bositis, senior research associate, Joint Centre for Political and Economic Studies, Washington DC, said he had rightly predicted some months ago that any Democrat nominee was going to be elected President. Americans were facing economic downturn. President George W Bush's popularity was at a record low. And four out of five people thought America was going into the wrong direction. Americans need a regime change.

Obama organized his campaign with the best people and he stick to the same team of people since late 2006. Thomas Mann, Senior Fellow of Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution said Republican Candidate's John McCain saw his team changed for three times. The change of McCain team reflects in the inconsistence of the message he wanted to communicate with the voters.

Obama realizes people's mood so he highlighted the slogan "Hope" and "Change" to revive the spirit of the Americans when the economy was in dire economic slump.

Obama's disciplined campaign also beat Hillary Clinton out of the Democrat Nomination race. Bositis said Hillary Clinton might be overconfident. She thought she's going to win early and she didn't spend time on small states as much as she should have done. Obama's campaign was disciplined. Eventually, he beat her out in these small states and won the nomination. Obama organized the campaign with the disciplined and organized group of people.

Obama's advantage also lies on his war chest. "Money indicates the strength of the candidate rather than the source of that strength," said Mann. Obama was estimated to end up collecting US$700 million to finance his campaign, compared to McCain of around US$330 million, according to Bositis.

In spite of huge amount of fund in pocket, Obama was extremely efficient and he used the resources wisely. For instance, his volunteer staff would be allowed to reimburse only the subway fee to get from the airport to downtown Chicago, which cost only US$2 per trip.

Meanwhile, Obama took the advantage of the changing demography of Americans by mobilizing young voters. The traditionally "southern" states were no longer red any more because of the growing urbanization and the migrants of people from other states to the economic growing states such as Virginia and North Carolina.

When came the question whether African American would support Obama?

In fact, Obama had the air of the Ivy League.  Obama's most important supported group was educated high income white people. Hillary Clinton during the campaign portrayed her¬self as a "good old boy", while Americans want someone fresh for a change.

Obama realized he needed to spread out his support base. He worked hard with the black voters and the labour unions. Obama's message for a change resonated well especially after the economic crisis that hit a massive number of American people. Obama portrayed himself as modernity. Obama's youthfulness and his photogenic image helped boost the candidacy. McCain was obviously too old to connect with some young voters. He has a star quality and many of his supporters helped campaign for him through the internet and new media.

Meanwhile, the image that McCain wanted to project himself didn't click. Bositis said, "McCain tend to describe himself as a "Maverick" but Americans didn't need a maverick but someone from Law School from Chicago." McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate to energize the traditional Republican support base. But Bositis said, "Americans now want to look forward to modernity not an idealist past that never existed."

The financial crisis in September was in Obama's favour because many Americans blamed the incumbent government for contributing to the worst economic crisis in the US since 1930s.

While McCain was trying to highlight security issue to show his experience, Obama focused on the economic message. Although some questioned if Obama's tax cut promise would be realized, given the fiscal constraints, many voters gave him the benefit of the doubts because they are desperate for the change amidst the economic doldrums.

Obama bought the airtime to communicate with the voters one week before the voting date to present his presidential image to the Americans. During the half-hour TV ads on several major TV networks, Obama didn't mention McCain but he projected the future of Americans.

On the other hand, McCain's body language looked erratic during the TV debate. He didn't look at Obama during the first TV debate. Obama looked cool and calm throughout. McCain's candidacy was also dampened by inside story about the internal conflicts within McCain's camp.

Obama's campaign team was consistent. There was no drama within Obama's team to be heard of.

Some people in the southern states might not be ready for modernity that Obama's image represents. Obama however spent lots of time in the final weeks visiting southern states several times to attack McCain's turfs even though he realized that he might lose in these states any

way. Obama visited some southern states to force McCain to defend himself in traditionally Republican constituencies instead of spending time elsewhere.

Came November 4, the rest is history. Now it's left for Obama, the tough campaigner, to prove himself whether he could be a good President as well.