Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

History in Denver

Obama kicks off fall campaign with slew of promises

Rocky Mountain News

Published August 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size  

More DNC Editorials

More stories »

After four days of hype and scripted praise, of films, tributes and anecdotes that portrayed Barack Obama as a seer and prophet nearly ready to walk on water, it was almost possible to forget before the main event Thursday night at Invesco Field that the nomination of the junior senator from Illinois truly was a historic milestone.

This nation was forged in the promise of freedom. For its entire history it has provided greater opportunity and liberty for more of its citizens than any other country on Earth. But it was born with a great stain that endured for many decades: the institution of slavery, then the evil of segregation and second-class citizenship for the slaves' descendants.

The fact that an African-American could be nominated by a major party as its candidate for president only 45 years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s equally historic address on the Washington National Mall, at a moment when the bitter-enders of Jim Crow had yet to surrender, is breathtaking, inspiring and a tale to be told to our children's children.

Let the cynics chuckle and sneer if they like at the classical backdrop at Invesco Field and the image it was intended to evoke. There is an arc from Lincoln to Obama, by way of King.

Not in terms of accomplishment, of course. Obama's achievements remain paltry by the standard of either of those figures. But the senator does represent an inevitable culmination of the long struggle that took both of their lives.

Obama delivered his acceptance speech with his usual flair, although it was relatively free of memorable phrases or imagery until near the end. Unless you consider "Eight is enough" a show-stopper, or the exhortation that "We are a better country than this."

Then, however, as Obama approached the finish, he began a cadenced call for Americans to search for common ground on the difficult issues of the day - a call of the sort for which he is justifiably renowned and has few if any peers.

He was eloquent (if sometimes simplistic), and by the time he referenced the Lincoln Memorial and "a young preacher from Georgia" you could sense that he'd achieved his goal of connecting - for however long it remains to be seen - with a large swath of a very interested electorate.

The speech was respectful but tough on his opponent, John McCain, portraying him as out of touch - a pathetic political dinosaur clinging to the failed nostrums of another era. Yes, there is a clueless celebrity in this contest, Obama suggested, just as Republicans have been saying - but unfortunately for them, he's their own candidate.

The era of big government is back, Obama also confirmed. He promised an aggressive, interventionist Washington that would direct hundreds of billions into preferred capital investments, lavish money on teacher salaries, scholarships, health care and a variety of other projects, expand the reach of the regulatory state and, apparently, prod Americans into better behavior.

Indeed, at times the speech mimicked the format of a State of the Union address in laying out proposed policy. Not that we're complaining. Obama simply had no choice but to quell growing complaints that he was too much the showman and that what undecided voters wanted was more specifics regarding his intentions.

Those he provided, if in some cases more convincingly than in others. Among his more implausible pledges: to lower the premiums of Americans with health care while covering all the uninsured. Now that would be the equivalent of walking on water. For that matter, he'll pay for many of his programs, he said, by "going through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better."

How many times have we heard that before - although the usual cliche used in making this pledge is "waste, fraud and abuse."

And we won't even go into the fallacies embedded in the idea that "in 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East."

No, we have no intention of a line-by-line evaluation of Obama's policies here. For the moment, we prefer to dwell on the spectacle, the energy and the dreams that were on display Thursday night in Colorado's capital city, as history unfolded before the world's eyes.

Comments

  • August 30, 2008

    3:26 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    clyde writes:

    And therein lies the problem... Obama is nothing BUT spectacle, pomp, circumstance, and promises. A President can do absolutely NOTHING about those things he most wishes to convince you he can change. All spending originates in the House.

    This editorial is nothing more than a giant glass of Kool-Aid, delivered by the Rocky Mountain Snooze, hoping to deliver you to the Dems. Not even a byline. Thanks for the propaganda, but no thanks.

  • August 30, 2008

    6:13 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    samsmargolis writes:

    What history would that be, RMN? The first African-American candidate? Not true. The first bi-racial candidate? Not true, either. Your journalistic integrity is nil. Your answer to this article would be....?

    http://www.diversityinc.com/public/14...

  • August 30, 2008

    9:12 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    gary writes:

    He has no real identity. He is half-white, which he
    rejects. The rest of him is mostly Arab, which he
    hides but is disclosed by his non-African Arabic
    surname and his Arabic first and middle names as a way
    to triply proclaim his Arabic parentage to people in
    Kenya . Only a small part of him is African Black from
    his Luo grandmother, which he pretends he is
    exclusively.

    What he isn't, not a genetic drop of, is
    'African-American,' the descendant of enslaved
    Africans brought to America chained in slave ships.
    He hasn't a single ancestor who was a slave. Instead,
    his Arab ancestors were slave owners. Slave-trading
    was the main Arab business in East Africa for
    centuries until the British ended it.

    Let that sink in: Obama is not the descendant of
    slaves, he is the descendant of slave owners. Thus he
    makes the perfect Liberal Messiah.
    It's something Hillary doesn't understand - how some
    complete neophyte came out of the blue and stole the
    Dem nomination from her. Obamamania is beyond
    politics and reason. It is a true religious cult,
    whose adherents reject Christianity yet still believe
    in Original Sin,..... transferring it.... from the evil of
    being human ...to the evil ....of being white.

    Nuff Said!

  • August 31, 2008

    1:19 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    arby writes:

    I was going to write my little comment about Obama and most black Americans not being African or ever having been outside of the USA. Besides Africa is a continent not a country.
    However I think Gary said it all for me. No need to be redundant.

  • August 31, 2008

    2:55 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Romulus writes:

    What pathetic lies by Gary. Obama has indicated on many occasions his pride in both his mother from Kansas and his father from Kenya. What's wrong with that? And since when does "African-American" mean anything other than an American of African descent, which Obama indubitably is. He has never claimed to be a descendant of slaves, so your entire argument is beside the point. And as far as support for Obama being a "religion', your sour grapes are showing. Maybe some people would actually prefer a President who is intelligent and articulate- it would be such a pleasant change.