A Speech to the Delegates

The New York Times


August 29, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
A Speech to the Delegates
By DAVID BROOKS

DENVER

My fellow Americans, it is an honor to address the Democratic National Convention at this defining moment in history. We stand at a crossroads at a pivot point, near a fork in the road on the edge of a precipice in the midst of the most consequential election since last year’s “American Idol.”

One path before us leads to the past, and the extinction of the human race. The other path leads to the future, when we will all be dead. We must choose wisely.

We must close the book on the bleeding wounds of the old politics of division and sail our ship up a mountain of hope and plant our flag on the sunrise of a thousand tomorrows with an American promise that will never die! For this election isn’t about the past or the present, or even the pluperfect conditional. It’s about the future, and Barack Obama loves the future because that’s where all his accomplishments are.

We meet today to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans, a generation that came of age amidst iced chais and mocha strawberry Frappuccinos®, a generation with a historical memory that doesn’t extend back past Coke Zero.

We meet today to heal the divisions that have torn this country. For we are all one country and one American family, whether we are caring and thoughtful Democrats or hate-filled and war-crazed Republicans. We must bring together left and right, marinara and carbonara, John and Elizabeth Edwards. On United we stand, on US Airways, there’s a 25-minute delay.

Ladies and gentleman, I never expected to be speaking before you today. Like so many of our speakers at this convention, I come from a hard-working, middle-class family. I was leading a miserable little life, but, nevertheless, overcame great odds to live the American Dream. My great-grandfather fought in Patton’s Army, along with Barack Obama’s great-grand uncles’ fourth cousin once removed.

As a child, I was abandoned by my parents and lived with a colony of ants. We didn’t have much in the way of material possession, but we did have each other and the ability to carry far more than our own body weights. When I was young, I was temporarily paralyzed in a horrible anteater accident, but I never gave up my dream: the dream of speaking at a national political convention so my speech could be talked over by Wolf Blitzer and a gang of pundits.

And today we Democrats meet in Denver, a suburb of Boulder, a city whose motto is, “A Taxi? You Must be Dreaming.”

And in Denver, we Democrats showed America that we have cute daughters who will someday provide us with prestigious car-window stickers. We heard Hillary Clinton’s ringing endorsement of “the weak-looking thin guy who’s bound to lose.”

We heard from Joe Biden, whose 643 years in the Senate make him uniquely qualified to talk to the middle class, whose family has been riding the Acela and before that the Metroliner for generations, who has been given a lifetime ban from the quiet car and who is himself a verbal train wreck waiting to happen.

We got to know Barack and Michelle Obama, two tall, thin, rich, beautiful people who don’t perspire, but who nonetheless feel compassion for their squatter and smellier fellow citizens. We know that Barack could have gone to a prestigious law firm, like his big donors in the luxury boxes, but he chose to put his ego aside to become a professional politician, president of the United States and redeemer of the human race. We heard about his time as a community organizer, the three most fulfilling months of his life.

We were thrilled by his speech in front of the Greek columns, which were conscientiously recycled from the concert, “Yanni, Live at the Acropolis.” We were honored by his pledge, that if elected president, he will serve at least four months before running for higher office. We were moved by his campaign slogan, “Vote Obama: He’s better than you’ll ever be.” We were inspired by dozens of Democratic senators who declared their lifelong love of John McCain before denouncing him as a reactionary opportunist who would destroy the country.

No, this country cannot afford to elect John Bushmccain. Under Republican rule, locusts have stripped the land, adults wear crocs in public and M&M’s have lost their flavor. We must instead ride to the uplands of hope!

For as Barack Obama suggested Thursday night, wherever there is a president who needs to tap our natural-gas reserves, I’ll be there. Wherever there is a need for a capital-gains readjustment for targeted small businesses, I’ll be there. Wherever there is a president committed to direct diplomacy with nuclear proliferators, I’ll be there, too! God bless the Democrats, and God Bless America!

Sarah Palin, McCain’s pick, forged maverick political path in Alaska

Sarah Palin, McCain’s pick, forged maverick political path in Alaska

The GOP's surprise vice-presidential nominee brings a fresh face to the '08 race.
By Peter Grier | Staff writer / August 29, 2008 edition

The young Sarah Heath once won the title “Miss Congeniality” in a local Alaska beauty contest. But her high school basketball teammates had another nickname for her, one that belied her genial surface: “Sarah Barracuda”.
Those monikers may sum up the contradictory political appeal of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s surprise choice to be his vice-presidential nominee.

She’s young, a fresh face, and a self-described “hockey mom” who eloped with her high school boyfriend after college. At the same time, she’s made a career of running against, through, and over Alaska’s old boy political network.

To win the governor’s mansion in 2006, she had to defeat the incumbent, scandal-weakened Gov. Frank Murkowski, in the primary. In the general election, she faced a former governor, Democrat Tony Knowles – and beat him handily.

“Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today,” said the McCain campaign in a news release announcing the Palin pick.

Governor Palin is energetic, staunchly antiabortion, pro-gun, and a maverick who has at times angered the Alaskan Republican Party. In that sense she might be seen as a mirror image of Senator McCain himself.

Like former Navy aviator McCain, her initial career ambitions had nothing to do with politics. An avid athlete as a girl, Palin in high school listed her career ambition as sitting in a booth with Howard Cosell, broadcasting basketball games in which her then-boyfriend (and future husband) Todd Palin was playing.

In fact, Palin graduated from the University of Idaho in 1987 with a degree in journalism. She did occasionally fill in as a television sports announcer for a few years thereafter.

But in other ways, Palin is a direct contrast to McCain and could help counter some of his weaknesses. She is decades younger than the Arizona Senator, for one. It may be tough for opponents to tie her in any way to the troubles of the Bush administration. And as a woman, she might attract some disaffected former supporters of Hillary Clinton from the Democratic camp.

Sarah Heath was born in Idaho in 1964. Her parents moved to Skagway, Alaska, when she was three months old. Eventually they settled in Wasilla, where her father, Chuck Heath, became a well-known local science teacher and track coach.
In high school she led a chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and led the Wasilla Warriors to a small-school state championship. She hit a crucial free three in the final minutes despite playing with a stress fracture in her ankle.
In 1988, she eloped with Todd Palin to save her parents the cost of paying for the wedding, according to a 2006 profile in the Anchorage Daily News. Discovering that they needed witnesses for the ceremony, they recruited two senior citizens from a home across the street from the county courthouse.

Todd Palin is a commercial fisherman, oil worker, and an avid snowmobile racer. The couple have five children. Their eldest son, Track, has joined the Army and is due soon to be deployed to Iraq. Their youngest child, Trig, born this past April, has Down syndrome.

Palin’s political career began when she won a seat on the Wasilla City Council in 1992. After reelection, she challenged and defeated the town’s sitting mayor in 1996, saying that the three terms he had served were enough. She clashed at times with the city’s staff, as she fired department heads who had been loyal to the defeated incumbent.

Booming sales-tax revenue allowed her to cut property taxes as Wasilla grew, according to the Almanac of American Politics. State GOP leaders took notice and began grooming her for higher office.

In 2002, she made an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor. A year later, Governor Murkowski appointed her ethics commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

But in 2003, she broke with the Republican hierarchy. The reason, she said at the time, was ethics. She charged that insiders in state government were involved in conflicts of interest and outright corruption and that state officials had ignored her complaints about it.

One of Palin’s particular targets was state Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich, whom she accused of leaking sensitive state documents to an energy lobbyist, among other things. Mr. Ruedrich later admitted to violations of ethics rules and paid a $12,000 civil fine.

In October 2005, Palin entered the Alaskan gubernatorial race. Murkowski had been weakened by the backlash to his appointment of his daughter to his old seat in the US Senate, which had become open when he was elected governor in 2002. Some Alaskans also believed that a natural-gas pipeline deal brokered by Murkowski was too favorable to oil companies.

Upon her election, Palin became Alaska’s first female governor as well as the first to be born after Alaska achieved statehood. She remains popular in the state and has maintained an image of independence from energy producers – but, unlike McCain, she does favor drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Palin eats mooseburgers, fishes with her family, and still runs competitively in organized road races.

Appearing for the first time as McCain’s running mate at an Aug. 29 rally, Palin wasted no time making a direct play for Hillary voters.

“It turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.”

( More politics stories )
Comments
1. Trad | 08.29.08

She seems like a nice person, but I’m afraid we could be witnessing a Harriet Miers redux. I guess we’ll see.
2. Moderate | 08.29.08

Woman or not, she’s still an extreme right-winger who knows more about commercial fishing, snowmachine races and basketball than representing the real issues of middle America.
3. Don | 08.29.08

She may make the two Dem Senators look like total crooks who never ran anything but their Senate offices in Cesspool, DC.

Very interesting choice. I can see the steam coming out of Pelosi’s ears.

Has McCain picked the right running mate?

www.bbcnews.com

Added: Friday, 29 August, 2008, 17:26 GMT 18:26 UK

Just when Hillary thought she had her low point behind her...Sarah Palin is a very shrewd pick. Obama now needs Hillary more than ever, which is particularly juicy because Hillary desperately wants Obama to lose in order to set up 2012 for her! You can't make this stuff up!

Alice Hergett

Recommended by 0 people

He's called the Dems bluff!

Mary, UK/USA

Recommended by 0 people

McCain attacks Obama for: being too young, not having enough foreign policy experience, not having enough federal experience and being a previously unkown figure.
Then he has the cheek to appoint a VP who: is even younger than Obama, has NP foreign policy experience, has NO federal experience, is almost totally unknown, is the former mayor of a town of only 9000 and its under investigation by the state of Alaska for misuse of her governorship in a grudge against her brother-in-law.

Greg Mills, Maidenhead

Beauty and the Beast.......

Hugh Janus, London, United Kingdom

Recommended by 0 people


She may have few years of experience but her focus has been on the right things: stopping wasteful spending, ending corruption, tackling special interests.

If she's too inexperienced to be VP, what does that say about Obama's being too inexperienced to be President?? Surely, that's more alarming.

Hard to believe, but she makes Obama appear even less experienced.

Andrea E, New York, United States

Recommended by 1 person

Added: Friday, 29 August, 2008, 16:56 GMT 17:56 UK

This year's presidential compaign just continues to surprise me. A 44 yr old female governor as Republican VP candidate and 35 yr veteran, white, male senator as the Democratic VP candidate. If you hadn't been watching then you'd think the media got it backwards. Hold on, because the next 2 months are going to be wild ride.

Ric Slocum, Memphis, United States

Recommended by 0 people

Added: Friday, 29 August, 2008, 16:43 GMT 17:43 UK

Eat it and weep Obama supporters, Obama is done like dinner now. You picked another loser as a candidate. Do you enjoy losing?

Steven Coran, Arlington, VA

Recommended by 0 people


Added: Friday, 29 August, 2008, 16:42 GMT 17:42 UK

If Americans have wit and wisdom, they will vote for the President of their choice and not the vice-president. But then, they voted for Bush. Twice. So much for wit and wisdom.

Robert, Saint Louis

Recommended by 0 people

Added: Friday, 29 August, 2008, 16:02 GMT 17:02 UK

Clever tactical selection, Possibly a winning one too!

Sarah is certainly going to attract the media. She is an attractive, smart, new to Washington, conservative and a ‘doer’.

A lot of Hillary supporters may switch to Republicans because of her.

S Joseph, London, United Kingdom

Recommended by 3 people


Added: Friday, 29 August, 2008, 15:59 GMT 16:59 UK

I think it unfortunate that Gov Palin can only be viewed as a "political" choice. It is surely time that someone recognized that there are many well qualified woman in the US. BTW who cares if it is a politacl choice. Please tell me when anything in this race wasn't about positioning and politics! Congrats to McCain for a bold choice and now on with the show.

Brian

Recommended by 2 people

Interesting choice.

This election just got very interesting...Personally I like Obama more than McCain, but Ms. Palin more than Mr. Biden.

susan, New Jersey, USA

Recommended by 2 people

Added: Friday, 29 August, 2008, 15:22 GMT 16:22 UK

Great Choice! Now lets just see how hypocritical the democrats will be bashing a woman who has more executive experience then Obama does.

jason garcia, atlanta, United States

Recommended by 73 people

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Conventions/comments?type=story&id=5676191

The Obama people are the most racist and vile of all political campaigns. This life long Democrat has gone independent and will never donate or give my time to any Democrat. The party has been taken over by the progressives. They are not concerned with this nation but more concerned about themselves. The Democratic Party decided whom they wanted and denied the voting democrats their voice! The leaders like Pelosi, Reid, Kerry and Kennedy have ruined this party. They stand for nothing and certainly not for the working Americans. Obama will only bring more corruption into Washington, just as he supports the corruption in Illinois. Biden is just another Washington insider that uses government to rip off the taxpapyers. Should Obama and Biden win, we will have another Bush and Cheney in the White House. I would rather trust McCain. Hillary was given a raw deal by the Democratic Party!
Posted by:
njstoltz 3:19 PMMark As Violation

Clinton forcefully endorses Obama

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer
5 minutes ago



Former President Clinton forcefully endorsed Barack Obama's bid for the White House on Wednesday, telling delegates to the Democratic convention that Obama is "ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world."

Clinton pushed back on attacks — initiated by himself and his wife during the bitter primary campaign, and later taken up by Republican John McCain — that Obama is ill-prepared for the White House, especially on matters of national defense.

"With Joe Biden's experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama's proven understanding, insight and good instincts, America will have the national security leadership we need," Clinton said.

Clinton campaigned feverishly for his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in her long-fought primary battle against Obama, and took her loss hard. He had not spoken out as strongly in support of Obama since he clinched the nomination in June.

But Wednesday, he was unambiguous in passing the torch of Democratic leadership to Obama.

Jabbing a finger at thousands of cheering delegates, he declared: "I want all of you who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November."

Running just over 20 minutes, the speech by the godfather of the Democratic Party whipped thousands of delegates into an exuberant frenzy. Where a night before they had hoisted "Hillary" banners, on this night they waved American flags.

The delegates stood on their feet and roared for nearly 3 1/2 minutes when Clinton walked on stage. The former president basked in their affection, but after several false starts at his speech, commanded: "Sit down!"

Clinton was by turns funny, nostalgic and wonkish, touching on issues like health care and pension benefits.

Clinton, ever mindful of himself, likened Obama's presidential quest to his own bid for the presidency in 1992, when "Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be commander in chief."

"Sound familiar?" Clinton said. "It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won't work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history."

He allowed that the primary campaign had generated "so much heat it increased global warming."

"In the end," he said, "my candidate didn't win. But I'm proud of the campaign she ran: She never quit on the people she stood up for, on the changes she pushed for, on the future she wants for all our children."

The former president's wide-ranging speech also attacked Republicans for an "exploding" national debt and misguided foreign policy.

Clinton's address elicited some nostalgia of its own among the delegates.

"He can still mesmerize a crowd," said Oregon delegate Sam Sappington.

Standing nearby, Lloyd Henion, who came to Denver as a Clinton delegate from Oregon, said the former president "hit a 500-foot home run. He hit all the points."

"That was as clear a message as you could get as to why Barack Obama should be president," Henion said of Bill Clinton's speech.

Clinton's challenge Wednesday night was tall, because he himself had questioned Obama's credentials.

During the primary race, the former president tried to raise doubts about whether the first-term Illinois senator had the experience to lead the country. He said Obama's opposition to the Iraq war was a "fairy tale."

Last fall, he dismissed Obama as totally unqualified.

"I mean, when is the last time we elected a president based on one year of service in the Senate before he started running?" Clinton said on "The Charlie Rose Show. "In theory, we could find someone who is a gifted television commentator and let them run."

Last winter, Clinton said that after "all the mean things" the Obama campaign had said about him, "I should be the last person to defend him. (But) if he wins this nomination, I'm going to do what I can to help him win."

Since Obama clinched the nomination in June, Clinton has seemed less than passionate about an Obama presidency, giving only lukewarm endorsements.

Clinton was departing Denver on Thursday morning, hours before Obama gives his acceptance speech.

Aides said this was standard practice for Clinton, and not a snub. Clinton did likewise at the 2000 and 2004 conventions.



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Clinton Delivers for Obama

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008

By David Von Drehle / Denver

No winner of a hard-fought, down-to-the-wire presidential nomination battle ever received a stronger boost from his vanquished foe than Senator Barack Obama picked up from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton here Tuesday.

After days of backstage carping among both her supporters and his, no one knew exactly what to expect. Obama didn't just beat a strong and popular candidate; he snatched the reins from the party's old guard and ticked off a former President, Bill Clinton, in the process. People might have wondered if Hillary Clinton was preparing to launch her 2012 campaign when the Pepsi Center became filled with thousands of cardboard placards emblazoned with her website address. After all, history holds plenty of examples of also-rans who achieved far less than Clinton did this year — her 18 million primary votes essentially tied Obama's over a grueling six-month race, yet those voters refused to close ranks behind their party's winner.

Clinton cleared up all doubts in a matter of seconds: "I am here as a proud mother," she declared, "a proud Democrat, a proud Senator from New York, a proud American — and a proud supporter of Barack Obama." At that the crowd of some 15,000 people, which had greeted Clinton with a solid four-minute wall of noise, erupted again, waving all those white "Hillary" signs in an enormous cloud.

Six months of pitched battle and a summer of what-ifs would change anyone; they've turned Clinton into a first-rate stage presence. She followed a tough act, Montana governor Brian Schweitzer, who woke up a drowsy crowd with a barn burner of a speech on — of all things — energy independence. Yet Clinton managed, without a lot of poetry or melodrama, to take the gathered Democrats up another couple of notches toward fever country.

She didn't merely declare her own wholehearted support for Obama. She challenged her supporters — a quarter of whom now favor John McCain over Obama, according to recent polls — to put aside their lingering resentments and think about the bigger picture. "I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?" And at another point: "You haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership. No way. No how. No McCain!"

Clinton repeated her endorsement at regular intervals through her 22-min. speech. "Barack Obama is my candidate," "I support Barack Obama," "We need to elect Barack Obama," and so on. She even added an extra one at the end of her prepared text.

But perhaps the most striking benediction she delivered to her former foe was to hand him — maybe as a loan or maybe forever — the mantle of 1990s peace and prosperity that she had hoped to wear as her own. "As I recall, we did it before with President Clinton and the Democrats," she said to a new round of cheers. "And President Obama and the Democrats will do it again."

Bill Clinton watched the speech from box seats high above the convention floor, flanked by the widow of Arkansas Democratic chairman Bill Gwatney, killed recently by a disgruntled former employee, and the son of the late Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio. When the speech ended, the former President wiped tears from his eyes, mouthed the words "Great speech" and let out a long sigh.

It's safe to assume Obama let out his own sigh about that same moment. He is halfway through his convention now at a critical juncture in his improbable campaign. His early summer lead in national polls has evaporated, and many Democrats have become skittish. A number of leading liberal writers have started spinning out preliminary theories about why the most effective political organization in years is doomed. Yet he surely knows it could be worse.

Not only did Hillary Clinton come through for him big-time. The campaign pivoted Tuesday from a vaguely defensive attempt to reintroduce the candidate to a more upbeat theme of future vs. past.

"The race for the future is on," keynote speaker Mark Warner of Virginia said in an otherwise generally flat performance. "John McCain promises more of the past. America has never been afraid of the future, and we shouldn't start now."

Democrats hoping to hear the sound of McCain being chewed on were probably disappointed. A number of speakers tried to tie the Republican nominee to incumbent President Bush, figuring that ought to be as lethal as a bathtub tied to a Channel swimmer. Noting that McCain sides with Bush 90% of the time, according to some estimates, Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey Jr. declared, "That's not a maverick. That's a sidekick."

But it was all pretty dry. The closest thing to red meat came from Schweitzer, and it wasn't very red: "We simply can't drill our way to energy independence, even if you drilled in all of John McCain's backyards — including the ones he can't even remember." The relentless inclusion, in virtually every speech, of a vague and sketchy story about Americans fallen on hard times, lost whatever power it may have had by early evening, at the latest.

Nevertheless, in that final hour, with the whole crowd finally paying attention and on its feet, with Hillary Clinton giving Obama more than he had any historical justification to expect, there was the feeling of a convention that had shifted up a gear or two. That must make a candidate exhale in relief.

Nike sees basketball as bright spot at Olympics By Associated Press
Posted Wednesday, August 20, 2008 5:41 PM ET

Getty Images
After some disappointments, Nike is looking to men's basketball for one of those big medal moments companies love. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - After some disappointments among Nike's prospects, the company is looking to men's basketball for one of those big medal moments companies crave from the Olympics.

Basketball is the top sport in China and other developing markets where Nike hopes to win over consumers. With the U.S. men's team's advancement to the semifinals in Beijing after a 116-85 victory over Australia Wednesday, the time may be right for the swoosh.

Nike says its sees this year's games - which drew the company's largest Olympics investment ever - as a success. It created a new product for every sport and outfitted 22 of the 28 federations.

In U.S. men's basketball, Nike outfits 11 of the 12 players, including NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, who has spent several summers in China building relationships and is mobbed wherever he goes. His is the top-selling jersey in China.

Bryant just had his best game of the Olympics, scoring 25 points against Australia. But Nike has seen better games for big wins.

Some of its top athletes, most notably Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, faced unexpected disappointments. And Nike lost the spotlight to competitors such as Speedo, which endorses Michael Phelps and created the famed LZR Racer suit, and Puma, which outfitted Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who swept the 100- and 200-meter sprints.

"We are about sticking by athletes through thick and thin, through injury and poor performances," said Nike brand president Charlie Denson from Beijing. "That is why sports are such an exciting field - there are no guarantees. There is heartbreak and failure as well as excitement and triumph."


Associated Press
After suffering an injury, Nike-sponsored Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, faced unexpected disappointments and was forced to withdraw from the competition. In the case of the men's basketball team, Nike needs the latter.

"I think the folks at Nike do want to come out of the games with a big win...they have the luxury of multiple opportunities for that," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.

"Not that they aren't winning medals all over the place," Swangard said. "But those big iconic victories that transcend the games - that just hasn't happened yet."

Nike could find one of those moments in the U.S. men's basketball team, which it has dubbed the "redeem team."

The U.S. team faces defending gold medalist Argentina or Greece on Friday in the semifinals. The team needs just two wins to gain its first gold medal since 2000. The Americans lost in the semis four years ago at the Olympics in Athens and then in the world championships in 2006.

But this time around the team has LeBron James and Bryant, two superstars who are among the most worshipped U.S. athletes in China. Bryant had to withdraw from the 2004 Olympic team because there was a chance he would be unavailable while facing a sexual assault trial, then pulled out on the eve of training camp in 2006 because he needed knee surgery.

But they bring a fast style of play to basketball that draws the attention of viewers everywhere.

"It's really been fun to watch and to watch this U.S. basketball team perform," Denson said. "I wouldn't say we expected it (such good performance) but we hoped for it.

China is crucial to Nike: It has surpassed the $1 billion annual sales mark there, making China the second biggest market for the Beaverton, Ore.-based company. The sport also captures attention because of its popularity in other developing markets, such as Eastern Europe, where Nike has been making inroads.

Nike finds added importance to defend its dominant position in basketball, particularly as it faces competition from Adidas, which is the NBA's official uniform and apparel supplier.

"The U.S. basketball team is becoming a global favorite again," Denson said.

He said the company has always worked with athletes from an early stage in their career, using their feedback to develop products. This gives Nike an edge in basketball, where it has a long history with consumers and players.

"It isn't a pure marketing game," Denson said. "This is how we build a brand."

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