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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (411778)	8/30/2008 6:02:16 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1571884

United States of Obama Anne Davies and Ian Munro Herald Correspondents in Denver August 30, 2008 AMERICA has taken the historic step of nominating its first African-American candidate for president in Barack Obama, who used his acceptance speech to reclaim patriotism as a core value of the Democratic Party and reinforce his economic agenda. Invoking the legacies of Franklin Roosevelt, the war-time Democrat president, and John F Kennedy, the Cold War leader, Senator Obama told his 84,000 audience in Invesco stadium that as commander-in-chief, he would not hesitate to defend the nation. But he also promised an America that would turn to "tough diplomacy" before force and an America that would share its prosperity more fairly and re invigorate its economy. For 42 minutes the crowd was transfixed by the lone figure in the spotlight. Then as they roared "Yes, we can," Senator Obama was joined by his wife, Michelle; their daughters; vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden, and climate campaigner Al Gore. Fireworks exploded around the perimeter of the stadium as red, white and blue confetti rained down on the set recalling the White House. The main thrust of Senator Obama's speech was to answer his chief critic, Republican nominee John McCain. Echoing his 2004 convention speech which launched his political career, Senator Obama said that men and women who fought did not do so from a partisan perspective of serving red (Republican) America or blue (Democrat) America. "They served the United States of America," he said. "So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country and so do you and so does John McCain." The speech marked the beginning of the contest, which now has 67 days to run until Americans make their choice on November 4. There were no new policy announcements, with Senator Obama instead confronting Republicans with counter-attack. Senator McCain was not the maverick he is sometimes portrayed, the Democrat argued, but a party loyalist who voted with President Bush more than 90 per cent of the time. By Senator Obama's reckoning his opponent is effectively Bush reincarnate. "Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 per cent of the time?" Senator Obama countered. "I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a 10 per cent chance on change." It was Senator McCain who supported the war on Iraq at the expense of dealing with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, he said, which led to possibly the hardest hitting one-line of his speech. "John McCain likes to say that he'll follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won't even go to the cave where he lives," Senator Obama said. On the domestic front, he said that Senator McCain adhered to an old conservative philosophy that relied on wealth 'trickling down" to the most needy. It was the "ownership society" that left the needy on their own. It was time, he said, that the Republicans owned their own failure. Senator Obama directly confronted the charge that his popularity is merely that of an insubstantial celebrity. He reminded his audience of his early life, of being raised by a single mother who once resorted to food stamps, and by a grandmother who scrimped on clothes to support him and added: "I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead but this has been mine." But Senator Obama also chose to break with his usual high-level rhetoric in favour of a more down-to-earth approach. Some parts of Senator Obama's speech were dense with policy as he reinforced to the party faithful that there were big differences between the parties: on taxation, on healthcare and on helping the poor. "America, we cannot turn back," he said. "Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend." While Senator Obama made few references to the historic nature of the night, it was underscored by other speakers, including the son and daughter of Martin Luther King who celebrated the nomination on the 45th anniversary of King's "I have a dream" speech, delivered at the Lincoln Monument in 1963 before 250,000 people. smh.com.au.