The GOP convention provided golden opportunities, and on Thursday Democrats made sure they took every one of them. If Mitt Romney wasn't going to offer specifics or talk about American soldiers and foreign policy, President Obama did, and so did just about everybody else.
If Romney was going to try to make a joke out of the Climate Crisis, John Kerry and especially President Obama were going to call him on it:
"And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet – because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They’re a threat to our children’s future. And in this election, you can do something about it."
John Lewis placed current GOP voter suppression efforts in the context he lived, of the Civil Rights movement, and the sorry history of such efforts to cheat African Americans out of their votes and their rights.
Caroline Kennedy presented a calmly expressed but passionate case for President Obama's accomplishments as well as his promise, as in keeping with the Kennedy legacy. She pointed out that her father never got to run for a second term--all the more reason to make sure this President gets his.
John Kerry was blunt, incisive and funny in taking apart the Romneyryan qualifications and non-specific foreign policy positions, such as they are. He was the first to call Romney on the Climate Crisis.
President Obama promised specifics and he delivered, outlining the choice of visions for the next four years in the first part of his speech. In addition to following through on efforts he's begun on jobs and the economy, health care, education and energy, he talked more about foreign policy than the entire GOPer convention did. Real responsibilities that a real President must face.
Around the world, we’ve strengthened old alliances and forged new coalitions to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. We’ve reasserted our power across the Pacific and stood up to China on behalf of our workers. From Burma to Libya to South Sudan, we have advanced the rights and dignity of all human beings – men and women; Christians and Muslims and Jews.
But for all the progress we’ve made, challenges remain. Terrorist plots must be disrupted. Europe’s crisis must be contained. Our commitment to Israel’s security must not waver, and neither must our pursuit of peace. The Iranian government must face a world that stays united against its nuclear ambitions. The historic change sweeping across the Arab World must be defined not by the iron fist of a dictator or the hate of extremists, but by the hopes and aspirations of ordinary people who are reaching for the same rights that we celebrate today.
He produced some bold statements and sharp critiques. For example:
"My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy, but from all that we’ve seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly.
After all, you don’t call Russia our number one enemy – and not al Qaeda – unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War time warp. You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally."
"And while my opponent would spend more money on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs don’t even want, I’ll use the money we’re no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and put more people back to work – rebuilding roads and bridges; schools and runways. After two wars that have cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, it’s time to do some nation-building right here at home."
"But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy – well, you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I’m President, I never will."
"And I will never turn Medicare into a voucher."
"This is the choice we now face. This is what the election comes down to. Over and over, we have been told by our opponents that bigger tax cuts and fewer regulations are the only way; that since government can’t do everything, it should do almost nothing. If you can’t afford health insurance, hope that you don’t get sick. If a company releases toxic pollution into the air your children breathe, well, that’s just the price of progress. If you can’t afford to start a business or go to college, take my opponent’s advice and “borrow money from your parents.”
In the last part of his speech he outlined the values that inform his vision. He spoke about citizenship as the identity that binds us. For everybody--but especially I think for people who followed him in 08 and may have fallen away--he elaborated on the real meaning of hope and change. He's alluded to this before, he's said it in other ways, but in this context it was particularly powerful. "The hope is you," he said. And after four years, that means something, because that "you" is behind accomplishments with real meaning for real people.
"So you see, the election four years ago wasn’t about me. It was about you. My fellow citizens – you were the change.
You’re the reason there’s a little girl with a heart disorder in Phoenix who’ll get the surgery she needs because an insurance company can’t limit her coverage. You did that."
Here's a link to videos of the major speeches and to the text of President Obama's speech. The punditocracy seemed underwhelmed (except on msnbc) but I suspect this is like one of those Clinton State of the Unions that went over their heads. I think this speech is going to take on every more significance as time goes on, as an eloquent statement not just of the choice in this election but a political philosophy for these times. A civics lesson for the future.
But for all its skillfulness, one of its most potent lines may well have been accidental. President Obama was about to talk about the effect of actually being the decider-in-chief. He was about to talk about what it's like to order soldiers into action, and then comfort the loved ones of those who didn't make it home. But he started this section with these words:
"I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed – and so have I. I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the President."
But at the words "I'm the President" the hall erupted in cheers. Twitter went nuts. Later in the evening commentators were interpreting the meaning and power of that phrase in their own ways. What I thought about as I saw the reaction of people there was the realization that--yes, we did this once, he is the President, he is our President, and it would be a damn shame not to do this again. And it was the connection between 2008 and 2012.
Earlier they ran a video I've seen before that very skillfully and very quickly lists the major accomplishments of President Obama's first term. They are awesome. They are historic. And in a sane country they would result in a landslide reelection.
Yet the polls say he's tied or barely ahead of the worst candidate either party has fielded in generations. He's opposed by people who in just the last few days: said that the Democrats claim that his speech was moved inside from the outdoor arena was because they couldn't raise the crowd and not because of the forecast threat of thunderstorms, because Democrats knew of this forecast "for months;" that student loans could lead to another Holocaust; and tweeted "I hope someone was passing out free condoms tonight, otherwise Sandra Fluke might be in trouble tomorrow."
The party of the vile and the stupid shouldn't even be polling in double digits. But unless and until Americans start paying attention, this country and the future are in trouble. President Obama outlined the choice:
"If you turn away now – if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t possible…well, change will not happen. If you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void: lobbyists and special interests; the people with the $10 million checks who are trying to buy this election and those who are making it harder for you to vote; Washington politicians who want to decide who you can marry, or control health care choices that women should make for themselves.
Only you can make sure that doesn’t happen. Only you have the power to move us forward."
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