I took a day to recuperate from the high of being a part of the crowd in Denver to witness the Obama acceptance speech, where B.O. tranformed on the 45th anniversary of MLK’s speech “I have a dream, into the “American Promise.”
I had thought the historic reach of the speech was just the fact that here we have a black man who is poised to become the next president of the United States.
But I’ve always called Obama a race avoider. He’s not about race politics. He deftly enlarged the vision at the largest political gathering in U.S. history. His denunciation of the Bush years, and his suggestion of a path to lift all gave the speech a much broader context.
Truly, if most Americans have been reduced to economic slaves under Bush policies, then Obama’s speech promising economic hope and fairness was no less than the “Emancipation Proclamation” for the American middle class.
There were whites, blacks, Asians, Latinos, of all economic stripes cheering at Invesco.
I didn’t want to leave the field. I just wanted to mark the moment. It was the first time in the that hearkened back to the hope I felt in 1992, when I was in New York covering the Democrats. Bill and Hillary Clinton were high above the crowd on the Madison Square Garden podium, and the feeling of hope after years under the First Bush recession was palpable.
With Obama, I got that same feeling on Thursday night. Not even the fiasco of trying to shuttle 80,000 people back to Denver on shuttle buses diminished that feeling.
Less than 24 hours later, I had caught a red-eye back to California and was back to reality, paying nearly $4 for gas, and bringing home fewer groceries for my dollar after a quick stop at the supermarket. Four bucks for bread? Three bucks for a quart of soy milk? Do we need an economic break or what?
An Obama election is not about race. It’s about relieving the economic pain brought on by war and lop-sided gains for the wealthy.
I didn’t have to see more Obama on the news to erase the feelings the speech evoke.
If you’re in America, you live it everyday you reach for your wallet.
***
When my red-eye arrived in Calif., my Blackberry was there to inform me that John McCain had pulled what will either go down as the best political move, or the biggest campaign boner.
McCain best shot at halting Obama momentum? Pro-Life, beauty queen Sarah Palin.
Sarah Palin? The woman the Wall Street Journal wrote about a few weeks back because of ethical concerns in Alaska? The woman who asked a CNBC interviewer: “What is it that a vice president does everyday?”
Palin said, “This is a pretty cool job, governor of Alaska.”
My god. Has McCain lost his mind. Sarah Palin a hearbeat away from the presidency?
Now I wish he had gone with Bobby Jindal.
Palin is a sop to the women’s vote. But really, is a pro-life woman enough to lure any disgruntled Hillary types?
Palin? She’s an empty pant-suit.
I was staying with a conservative woman in Boulder during the Democratic convention, who used on Fox News in her house as room deoderizer while I was there.
But even my friend was stunned by the pro-life stance of Palin.
If it were Palin’s looks, McCain could have just gone with Tina Fey. (You like those glasses?)
Or if he wanted the brunette to lure the youth vote, Palin bears a resemblance to a middle-aged Britney Spears. (I wonder how she’d look in mouse ears?)
If this was McCain’s affirmative action hire, it really shows not a creative side, but a real act of “Hail Mary” desperation. He can’t go with Romney. And if he’s going to lose, he might as well go down with something different. Maybe Palin keeps McCain interested in his job? Who knows? It just doesn’t make sense.
Palin is nothing like women leaders we’ve known. She’s no Maggie Thatcher, Golda Meier or Indira Gandhi. Heck, the governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle makes more sense. But Alaska?
Palin makes Obama look like Winston Churchill.
When McCain introduced her, she went to the podium with her up-do like she was going to the prom.
I guess that’s warning to watch out when the hair comes down.
***
Obama’s brilliant speech framed the campaign so well. It’s America vs. Bush, “Eight is enough,” keep America’s promise.
Obama also took away the patriotism criticism. and the foreign policy experience issue.
For now the thrust is al about economic leadership.
McCain has responded with Sara Palin. He may as well wave a white flag.