September 7, 2008
Political Conventions Off and Running
Hoopla filled television last week as Democrats in Denver -- and Republicans in St. Paul -- held their quadrennial presidential nominating conventions.
Each party chose their president/vice-president team, and both were stunning and historic in nature – but presumptuous.
Illinois Democrat Sen. Barack Obama – with gobs of charisma but skimpy political experience -- chose veteran Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as the vice-president candidate.
Republican Sen. John McCain – a bonafide war hero with 26 years in Congress representing Arizona – chose little known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Both presidential teams are making history -- Obama as a Black man -- and Palin as a woman with a large family including a babe in arms.
HIGH-TECH POLITICS
Both teams utilized the latest technology in entertainment and Internet savvy.
Democrats held their extravaganza in the Denver football stadium open to the public, on a stage of plastic columns accompanied by fireworks and a star orchestra.
It is reported that more than 80,000 people attended Sen. Barack Obama’s acceptance speech.
Republicans countered in a huge auditorium with a giant projection-screen, band music, confetti, and a traditional “balloon drop.”
Both political parties made history -- the Dems by nominating a Black man for the presidency -- the GOP by nominating a woman as vice-president.
OBAMA SPEECH
Obama characterized his candidacy as “our chance to keep the American promise alive.”
“We cannot turn back – not with so much work to be done, not with so many children to educate and so many veterans to care for; not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save; not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.”
He faced the problem of a Black candidate for the presidency:
“I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don’t fit the typical pedigree, and I haven’t spent my career in the halls of Washington. However, I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring.
“What the nay-sayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about me. It’s about you.”
BLACK OVERTONES
It was no accident that Obama accepted the nomination on the 45th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Narrating the presentation was Georgia Congressman John Lewis -- sole surviving participant of King’s “march on Washington.” Following Lewis were speeches by Rev. King’s children.
BIDEN CONTRIBUTIONS
Obama’s selection of Democrat Sen. Joseph Biden, Jr., from Delaware -- as his vice-president -- also was carefully chosen.
Biden has served 35 years in the Senate and is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. His years – and official interest –are expected to shore up Obama’s skimpy political resume.
MCCAIN SPEECH
Senator John McCain, representing Arizona, accepted the Republican presidential nomination a few days later at the St. Paul, Minnesota, Auditorium.
He pledged “to move the nation beyond partisan rancor and narrow self-interest.” Delegates roared approval.
“Let me just offer an advance warning to the old, big-spending, do-nothing, me-first-country-second crowd – Change is coming!”
Then he awed the crowd with a detailed account of his ordeal as a Vietnam prisoner of war being tortured by breaking his arms for refusing to criticize the United States.
“Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight,” he roared at the conclusion of his speech. “We are American. We never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history – we make history.”
A quartet of anti-war protestors interrupted his speech for a moment, but ushers whisked them away quickly as the delegates chanted, “ U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”
McCain added: “Americans want us to stop yelling at each other.”
McCain was accorded sustained applause when he said,
“You know, I’ve been called a maverick, someone who marches to the beat of his own drum. Sometimes it’s meant as a compliment – sometimes it’s not.
“What it really means is: I understand who I work for. I don’t work for a party. I don’t work for a special interest. I don’t work for myself. I work for you.”
PALIN CONTRIBUTIONS
Sensational highlight to the Republican convention was introduction of the Vice-president candidate – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
She is the wife of an Alaska oil-field worker and mother to their five children. Their oldest boy is about to deploy oversea with the National Guard. The youngest child is a newborn boy afflicted with Downs Syndrome, but lovingly cuddled by the whole family.
When the Palin family appears on stage, the smaller children steal the show.
By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist
