A Few Obama Thank-Yous

In his Tuesday night acceptance speech, President-elect Barack Obama appropriately offered "thank-yous" to his family, campaign aides and voters who supported the Democratic ticket.

Now he may be dashing off thank-you notes to others who helped bring about his electoral college landslide. Here's hoping his list includes:

· Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. The allegiance of Obama's Democratic party allies should be measured against the standard: "BATK" (Before or After Tim Kaine.) Kaine endorsed Obama in February 2007, far in advance of most Congressional Black Caucus members and statewide elected officials outside of Illinois.

· Bill and Hillary Clinton. Obama could not have asked more of the Clintons. Despite her bitter defeat in the race for the party's presidential nomination, they went all-out for Obama, urging disappointed supporters to get behind the Democratic ticket. The Clintons should be thanked for that. But there's another reason to thank them.

Obama wouldn't be set to become the nation's 44th president were it not for the toughening-up he got from the Clintons in the primaries. Everything was thrown at Obama: his inexperience and questionable associations, his so-called oratorical skills vs. a lack of substance, his supposed unreadiness to become commander in chief -- charges that were also used by John McCain in the general election race.

By the time Obama locked horns with the GOP attack machine, he was battle-tested. For that, he owes the Clintons a special thank-you.

· The Commission on Presidential Debates. The debate formats -- one devoted exclusively to foreign policy and another to domestic policy, and a third using a town-hall-meeting style -- gave Obama the opportunity to demonstrate his command of the issues and to show that he could coolly and ably defend his positions in a face-off with the more senior McCain. The debates elevated Obama's presidential stature -- and took McCain down a peg or two.

· The Rev. Jeremiah Alvesta Wright. In Liberty Baptist church, my childhood place of worship, I heard it preached: "Sometimes a stumbling block can be a steppingstone in disguise."