Joe Biden: Issues Count

I first viewed the video clip above on James Fallows' blog at The Atlantic. I thought Fallows' comments about Sarah Palin's Republican convention speech were very perspicacious. This post is a follow-up of those earlier comments: "The Wages of Cockiness," James Fallows, posted 6 Sept. 2008.

More:

"What Conservatives Ignored" in the speeches at the Republican National Convention, at Thinkprogress.org

And fact-checking Sarah Palin's speech at the RNC, as well as others, at FactCheck.org--And, of course, you can fact check other politicians' claims at FactCheck.org, too.

A Celebrity Life?

To the critcism from the McCain camp that Barack Obama lives a celebrity life, Obama responded:

The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great - a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.

Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's Army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.

In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships.

When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.

And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.

I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as President of the United States.

Source of this excerpt from Barack Obama's speech: MSNBC.MSN.com

Day 4: Ordinary People

Wow! The voices of ordinary people are a highlight so far. Pam, from North Carolina, told us that she has been a life-long Republican; she voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2--but no more. Her family had the American dream until her husband got ill, lost his job and the family's healthcare. Then she had by-pass surgery. The bills piled up, with no healthcare to help. Afterwards, David Brooks and Mark Shields agreed that whoever located these people located winners for the Democratic Convention.

As the minutes tick by until Barack Obama's speech, I'm reminded of one of the drawbacks of living in the Eastern Time Zone, in a house of early risers who try to get to bed by 9:30 p.m. The other family night owl now lives in Austin, Texas. I've stayed up late every night, alone, to watch these events, to record a few of my immediate responses, and then to read a little of what others are recording before cold analysis kicks in. After maybe four to five hours of sleep for the past three nights, I'm ready for a long snooze. But until then. . . I hope Barack Obama's speech gets to the mountaintop of this convention.

Day 4: Al Gore

What irony! After Al Gore's speech, Jim Lehrer gets David Brooks to comment on the speech, and Brooks says that Al Gore's passionate speech illustrates a man who should have been himself when running for president, who shouldn't have listened to his political handlers because that is what cost him his passion and the election of 2004. This--following Gore's forceful description of John McCain's abandoning HIS honorable self for the support of the far-right and for partisanship. Gore demonstrated how John McCain will carry on the same policies of the Bush administration. He added: "Hey, I believe in recycling, but that is ridiculous."

Thank God that speakers at this convention are finally demonstrating that McCain and Obama represent two very different choices. Recent media outlets have tried to argue that the two candidates are not that different on the issues. That's hogwash!

And, finally, a speaker who raises the moral issues of torture.

Day 4: Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson is on stage now, comparing the views of John McCain and Barack Obama. McCain has flip-flopped many times in order to gain the support of the far-right. Richardson emphasized this in a very quotable sentence: "John McCain may pay $500 for his shoes, but we'll be the ones to pay for his flip-flops."

Not Disappointed

My final note on the third night of the 2008 Democratic Convention: it did not disappoint,

• from the class act of Hillary Clinton's calling for a stop to the roll call in order to nominate Barack Obama as presidential candidate for the Democratic party,
• to the speeches of military men and women,
• to Bill Clinton's smart and convincing support of Barack Obama (comparing Obama's experience to that of his own experience campaigning for president),
• to Beau Biden's heart-felt introduction of his father,
• to Joe Biden's stories of his mother, including the one in which, when Biden was picked on by other kids, his mother told him to return and bloody their noses so that he could walk the streets (a quick camera pan to the elder Mrs. Biden caught her mouthing the words "that's true"),
• to Joe Biden's bloodying McCain's nose in his litany of McCain's misjudgments: "John McCain was wrong; Barack Obama was right,"
• to Barack Obama's appearance at the end and his hat tip to Hillary.

Yes, this was pageantry and politics, but it was also poetry and patriotism.

Of course, I was watching PBS, which included coverage of the entire speeches of most of the participants in the evening and less coverage of talking heads pontificating--though there was some of that, too.

"Johnny, I hardly Knew You!"

John Kerry is delivering, too. Tarred as a flip-flopper by the Republicans in the 2004 presidential race, Kerry is effectively demonstrating that John McCain is really the flip-flopper. Kerry's advice to McCain? Before he debates with Obama, "John McCain should finish the debate with himself." Oh yeah! "That flag doesn't belong to any ideology; it doesn't belong to any political party. . . . it belongs to all the American people."

Another Night with the Democrats

Well, I've spent another night staying up past 11:30 p.m. here in the Eastern Time Zone to listen to the speeches at the Democratic Convention. I tuned in after PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer at 8 p.m. and watched fairly faithfully throughout the evening. I missed a couple of the shorter speeches. The speeches of ordinary folks such as Gloria Craven, former textile worker from North Carolina, and Lilly Ledbetter of Alabama, who sued Goodyear for wage discrimination, tended to be spoken in a monotone as these inexperienced speakers depended too much on the teleprompter. However, these women's experiences demonstrated the economic and judicial shortcomings of this Republican administration. Ledbetter discovered that Goodyear had paid comparable male colleagues more than she for years. She sued and won her case, but then the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, struck down her suit on what seems to be a very narrow technicality. Interested in just what the Supreme Court decided this woman should have done? See Matthew Yglesias' post.

The highlight of the night was Hillary Clinton's speech, and I thought it was a good one. What a president she would make! But, then, I voted for Barack Obama, and I'm standing by my man. Clinton stood by Barack Obama, too, in this speech, and she's set the bar high for tomorrow night's key speeches by Joe Biden and Bill Clinton. Hope they don't disappoint.

Kudos to Michelle Obama

I just watched the first night of the Democratic Convention on PBS, Jim Lehrer from the NewsHour moderating. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, led the speeches with a typical political speech, what one might expect from Nancy Pelosi, whom I've never found very inspiring. I was hoping for a speech to really engage and energize the delegates. Jesse Jackson, Jr., did a good job at that, the speech of Missouri's Senator Clair McClaskill was delivered well, and Ted Kennedy's appearance was a highlight. A video tribute had long been planned for Kennedy, but his being able to appear in person despite his illness was an unexpected pleasure for many. However, I think the evening goes to Michelle Obama. She was poised, humorous, articulate, and set just the right balance between personal anecdote and political awareness--despite what David Brooks said afterward during the brief "talking heads" follow-up to Michelle Obama's speech.

David Brooks thinks that Michelle Obama missed her opportunity to help the American people see who Barack Obama really is, who the man is. I was surprised by his analysis. As an avid reader of online news, a daily viewer of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, a reader of political blogs, and a subscriber to news magazines, I've read a lot about Barack Obama. Yet Michelle Obama's speech helped me see more of the man, of his ideals, his hopes, his dreams, his family. What did David Brooks want? Something that the political noise machine can turn against the candidate's wife?

David Brooks' sour analysis was in the minority, however. Two of the historian panelists, Richard Norton Smith and Michael Beschloss began their comments by disagreeing with Brooks. I've listened to David Brooks a lot over the years and read his columns in The New York Times occasionally, and sometimes I just don't understand where that man is coming from.

Michelle Obama rocks!