On Thursday night at the Democratic Convention there was an unbelievable culminating event at Mile High Stadium, where the Denver Broncos play football. The Democrats rented the stadium for $5 million for one night. At the start of the week I wasn’t sure that political conventions were any longer necessary. Well, this one turned out to be a bonus, much better than could be expected, with a half dozen great speeches and with a stagecraft I didn’t know the Democrats were capable of, which came off without a hitch or glitch. The Thursday night finale was spectacular, highlighted by Obama’s knock-em-dead speech to close the proceeding. 84,000 people were in the stadium and another 42 million watched it on television. The bounce from the convention was gratifying. Obama and McCain were tied at the beginning of the week at 45% each; at the end of the week Obama was up 49 to 41%. I haven’t seen any polls yet about Sarah Polin, McCain’s surprise choice for Vice President, and now Gustav, the hurricane heading for the gulf coast and New Orleans, threatens the Republican Convention. Bush has already cancelled his speech for tomorrow night and the rest of it is up in the air at this juncture. Bush is eager to rectify his poor reaction to Katrina, so they will undoubtedly give priority to the storm and its aftermath at this point. He’s in Texas waiting for it to land.
Obama’s Thursday night speech was rhetorically powerful and for the first time he really went after McCain. Most of Big Media agreed it was a barnburner of a speech. I watched the gang on MSNBC and they were very enthusiastic about it, even Pat Buchanan, the man who has written speeches for Republicans. He was beside himself with praise. Obama said we were better as a nation than what the past eight years revealed about us and eight years of it was enough. He said McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time and he wasn’t ready to take a chance on a 10% chance of a change. He promised to cut taxes on the middle class to initiate a windfall profits tax on Big Oil. He said by seeking other sources of energy we should be able to end our dependence on Middle East oil in ten years. He mocked the Republican philosophy of help the fat cats get fatter and good times will trickle down to the masses at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. God, I have been hearing that theory since I was in knickers in the forties. Obama said it is hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you don’t have any boots.
For women he said, there should be equal pay for equal work. In all he mentioned 29 items that needed improvement, things that were first on his priority list, which of course included health care, education and protection of Social Security. The crowd roared its approval. They all left the stadium ready for battle. (As a personal Note: My oldest daughter who lives in Florida was so inspired by the convention and Obama’s speech she signed up as a team leader in the Obama campaign in Melbourne, where she lives.)
Like everyone else I was flabbergasted by McCain’s choice of Sarah Polin, the 44 year old little known Governor of Alaska that McCain barely knew himself. The first thing to be said about her is she ruins McCain’s argument about the importance of experience. Secondly, to think this obscure, provincial talent, raw as raw can be, will be a heartbeat away from the most powerful office in the world is rather scary, especially when you considered McCain’s age and the fact he has had four bouts with cancer. He obviously likes pretty women—Polin was years ago Miss Wasilla, the Beauty Queen of her hometown—and Polin’s youthful energy. Nonetheless, his pick doesn’t inspire confidence in his judgment. Many moderate Republicans were unhappy with his choice, as it seemed to indicate he was going back to his maverick stance as a politician. However, the base loves her, especially the evangelicals, as she is a Pentecostal religionist, pushes Creationism, and seems to be some variety of reform politician. She is also pro-life (she had a Downs Syndrome baby last April and knew it was what it is), pro-guns (she hunts and loves moose meat), pro-lowering taxes, pro-letting Big Oil exploit the natural resources of her state. Her experience is pretty thin, she ran a fishing business, was a two-term mayor of Wasilla, and she’s been Governor for 18 months She knows nothing about Foreign Affairs and National Security. She was 8 years old when Biden started his career in the senate. I will be curious to see the one debate between them. I have heard some naïve or lying Republicans say she was more experienced to be president than Obama. Now that’s a strecth! To me she looks like a nobody from nowhere, a Barbie Doll who has wandered into the public arena. It was an enormous gamble to elevate this lady to where she is today.
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