President Obama is winning this war. I’m not talking about the lingering conflict in Afghanistan, that distant fight against what remains of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organization and the Taliban, a feudal band of religious zealots that threatens to overturn the Hamid Karzai government that the Obama’s administration is propping up. No, the war in which Obama has just scored a major victory is being waged inside this nation’s borders. It’s the fight over voting rights — a combat that has impacted the outcome of every presidential election, and many lesser contests, for longer than U.S. forces have been in Afghanistan, which is America’s longest war on foreign soil. Obama scored this domestic victory in an unusual way: He put Republican Benjamin Ginsberg, one of his opponents’ most successful field commanders, at the head of his effort to beat back attempts to restrict the voting rights of a lot of people — many of whom are widely thought to be Democrats.
Last week, the Presidential Commission on Election Administration issued its report, just days ahead of Obama’s State of the Union address. It was deep in his 2013 address that Obama signaled his intention to assemble a bipartisan team to combat the challenges to the voting rights of Americans.
“Defending our freedom … is not just the job of our military alone. We must all do our part to make sure our God-given rights are protected here at home. That includes one of the most fundamental rights of a democracy: the right to vote,” Obama said. “So tonight, I’m announcing a non-partisan commission to improve the voting experience in America. And it definitely needs improvement. I’m asking two longtime experts in the field — who, by the way, recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for (Mitt) Romney’s campaign — to lead it. We can fix this, and we will. The American people demand it, and so does our democracy.”
Full Article: Wickham: Obama winning war on voting rights.