Notes on the Democratic Convention 2008

[georginasand]

" I like the dreams of the future better than the histories of the past" ~ Thomas Jefferson

 For the Turkish Expatriate, to bring a little of the Convention to Istanbul:

I feel like it's been an election year for the past eighteen months. But here we are at the Democratic Convention in Denver. Well,  I'm not in Denver. I'm sitting in my living room in Kansas City  (that's Kansas City, not St. Louis, Mr. Obama) watching Denver on T.V. But I have a commonplace book and I'm not afraid to use it, so here are my notes from day two of the Convention. Some of them are notes, like you'd take notes on a lecture, some of them are notes on the speaking styles of the speakers (because I can use words like diction and syntax).

 Also, I apologize for the lack of proofreading, these were typed up rather late at night, so there are too many pronouns, run on sentences, and lots of passive voice. 

 

 

Apparently Kathleen Sebelious' speech doesn't get aired on Kansas City television (gee, I don't know why in the world we'd want to hear our governor speak at a national convention), so I got to listen to the commentators for a good fifteen minutes.
According to them: Mark Warner's  (former Governor of Virginia --> they air the former Governor of Virginia in KC, but not Our Governor...sorry, I'm not bitter) role as the keynote speaker is traditionally, and I quote: "to peel the skin off the other candidate." However, because Warner is a more centrist kind of guy they expect him to focus on balancing the already rather leftist convention, by ...well... letting McCain keep his skin. Apparently he made millions in the early cell phone industry which is beneficial because economy has never been the Democrats strong point. (One of the commentators made a self-deprecating crack about there having never been a democrat with a strong economic policy... I wonder if he's ever heard of the New Deal.) They disagreed about whether this more centrist keynote speaker will benefit the campaign. Some commentators thought that the Democrats need a centrist to pull in independent voters and that Clinton will be able to any necessary skin peeling later in the evening, but others felt that the convention had so far lack a battle cry and a good partisan keynote speaker would had been able to give something to rally around. They did agree on the importance of the other main speaker tonight: Senator Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania. His speech apparently will help Obama get two major swing blocks of voters: Pennsylvanians and Catholics (...and presumably Catholics from Pennsylvania, but I don't think polls ever get that specific). Also although he has been a exuberant  yes-man for Obama, they disagree on abortion, so for Obama to have granted Casey this speaking slot is a huge show of goodwill and moderation (especially considering the same slot was denied to Casey's father in the previous convention because of the abortion disagreement). Finally the commentators noted that Obama is unique in the fact that he is among the few truly charismatic Democrats of late.                                    

And now for something completely different.... actually politicians

 

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (Pennsylvania)

His address w as very simple and his diction very direct. Like everyone else he began by saying how honored he was to be here and gave a shot out to his home state of Pennsylvania and to Biden as a Pennsylvanian (confidential to the Turkish Expatriate: not sure how much news you're getting from home,  but Biden is Obama's running mate). He also praised Clinton for the grace with which she ran her campaign (biased interjection: Which campaign was he watching?!? ...now you know how I feel about that). He immediately cut to the chase and came down on Bush, Cheney and company for the economic situation and claimed Obama to be the solution. His mantra throughout the economic portion of the speech was that the American people cannot afford four more years of the same, which is what most Democrats claim McCain will ensure. (I was impress, he got the whole crowed to chant "Four more months not four more years.)  Although he presented Obama and Biden as the solution to economic turbulence, he focused on the necessity of unity as the medium of change ( I think we are going to be hearing a lot of that. Always his examples of economic hardship and endurance were with relation to Pennsylvania.  I thought he handled the abortion issue very sophisticatedly. After he sheepishly admitted that, yes, he and Obama disagree on this little matter, he kept the focus how his very mention of the subject proves Obama’s ability to respect disagreement and that in office he will seek common ground. He closed by quoting his father’s motto: “What did you do when you had the power?” and attested that Obama will use that power to fight for the people because “Barack Obama and Joe Biden are one of us.”

 Mark Warner (former Gov. of Virginia)

His speech was really compelling, almost all of my notes are content related because I couldn’t help but not listen for anything else. He was very focused on the future and unity which had been covered before, but his focus on science and technology was new and very interesting. If he were running, I would definitely vote for him. He was clear and concise (which you probably can’t tell from the notes), but still  maintained some charisma.

 

Followed precedent and began his speech with a shout out to Virginia and a rousing “My fellow Americans” (three of them, actually). He began by claiming that this was the most important contest, not because it was the race for the presidency, but because it was the race for the future. It is a race that we can win, but requires the full participation of people and new ideas… oh yeah, and Obama. He offered his life story as proof of his unique perspective on the economy. He was the first of his family to graduate from college, and because he found himself clearly unsuited for business or law found himself at the ground floor of the cell phone business. People told him he was crazy, told him “No one is going to want a telephone in their car.” But he ended up making millions, something that he believes could only have happened in America. When America is at it’s best, it is only where you are going that matters, and Obama is going to restore. He balanced his speech between cracks about energy policy with serious questions about the future. Some of the scariest questions of the future (i.e. global warming) would have to be asked regardless of the administration of the last four years, but he claims they are all more serious because of Bush. He also says his biggest criticism of the Bush administration is not the war, nor a specific policy, but that the administration never tapped into the resolve of the American people, never asked them to sacrifice and … (sing if you know the words) McCain can only offer more of the same. His main repetition through out the speech was “cannot afford” that the American people simply cannot afford, both economically and metaphorically, four more years. Obama has a different plan, one that is not afraid of the future. One unique feature of his syntax was the use of questions and phrases like “ think about” that naturally lead the audience to consider consequences and led them to the conclusions he was trying to make. He also quoted his 20 some years of experience (it’s always around number, no one says “I’m qualified because I have 34 years of experiences” it’s always 30 or 35), saying that if an idea works it doesn’t matter if it’s a democratic idea or a republican idea; that the election should be about the future vs. the past, not left vs. right. The focus of the future is in maintaining small town jobs, while still competing in the global economy. He quoted examples from Lebanon, Virginia, a small town in which an effort is being made to undo the damage done by outsourcing. …And of course the people to do this are Barack Obama and Joe Biden, because they see the importance of the future and science and technology.

…And now the one we’ve all been waiting for… 

Sen. Hilary Rodham Clinton (New York)
There was a lot of screaming,  over which she boomed that she, like everyone else, was proud to be her. She then promptly pulled the mom card, the democrat card, the New York card, and the American card as she endorsed Obama…sort of. All she really said was vote for him because he’s the democrat (and she’s not an option) rather than because he will be a good president. She did, however, declare that it was time for party to unite with one purpose (and dropped a sports metaphor which I guess is obligatory for any women in the political scene so she can get the men to take her seriously). She used fight and endurance related diction to emphasize the importance of unity for the future. Her major repetition was “ no way, no how, no McCain.”  The commentators later pointed out how important lintany, repetition and the establishment of some sort of battle cry are for this period in the campaign. She went on to explain that the reason for the election was to serve the people, and that she learned a lot from the people she met during her primary campaign (insert “moved to tears” joke here). But after a long litany of her campaign experiences, some of which were rather touching, and a “sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits” crack, she thanked her supporters but asked them to think about their motives: was their support because of her… or for the common good. That way she very delicately talked down those supporters who threatened to vote for McCain rather than give their support to Obama.  I thought this was the one portion of her speech that was handled exceptionally well. She listed her reasons for running in the first place: affordable college, equal rights, health care, fiscal sanity, and to stand of for the “invisibles” as the same reasons that she supports Obama. She talked about the need for good responsible leadership who understand the working class and the need to revitalize the country while meeting the challenges of global economy. Then she started nodding: to hubbie for meeting the previously mentioned challenge, to Michelle Obama for her speech and her capabilities as a first lady, to Joe Biden as a strong, good man who understands (… I didn’t put what he understands… everything, I guess), to John  McCain as a friend (really?) and colleague, but she declared that he would only …(you guessed it) give us more of the same. She also made a slightly clever joke about Bush and McCain in the Twin Cities next week. She closed by invoking the 88^th anniversary of the Seneca Fall’s Convention on Women’s rights as proof of the capabilities of Americans to rise to the demands of change, and said that despite the problems created by previous administration we should follow Harriet Tubman’s famous “no matter what, keep going” advice, but that to “keep going” we much “ get going” by electing Barack Obama. (That last one left me convinced I could be her speech writer and do a much better job.) 

The commentators loved her, said she hit all the necessary points and “electrified the crowd.” I didn’t see it. She praised Obama only as a Democrat, not as a good potential president, and all but declared her candidacy for 2012. Regardless, it is something incredible that she was up there at all. I think my namesake would be proud, and if that's good enough for George Sand, it's good enough for me. 

I remain,
Georgie

 

P.S. I'll try to get days three and four up tomorrow, but I am not promising anything