| HISTORIANS' COMMENTS | Historians' Comments- PENIEL JOSEPH, Brandeis University on"In Speech, Clinton Tries to Unite Party Behind Obama": Well, for decades, the Democratic Party has suffered from the
perception that it is the party of special interests. For the second straight night, we see a party that's trying
to create a perception that it's actually the party of universal interest, but universal interest in Technicolor.
So I think that it's been very effective in trying to embrace themes of patriotism and, really, small-d American
democracy....
I thought it was a remarkable speech. I think in a way some critics will say that she should have talked about Obama even more.
But given the fact that she got 18 million votes, I think the self-referential nature of the speech was justified to an extent.
At the same time, she tried to pass the torch to Obama and really tell her supporters that, if they want a different kind of America for themselves and their children, they should support Senator Obama's candidacy....
PBS Newshour, 8-26-08Download - RICHARD NORTON SMITH, George Mason University on"In Speech, Clinton Tries to Unite Party Behind Obama":: Well, I think, in a curious sort of war, she may have just
saved the McCain campaign some ad dollars, because it's awfully difficult to imagine them continuing as of tomorrow
morning to run those ads that suggest that Senator Clinton is, in fact, a latent McCain supporter....
You know, I think that's, frankly, implicit. You know, we've all been caught up in this media melodrama for weeks. You know, basically, will she or won't she? And tonight she answered that question I think pretty emphatically, with some poignancy and, I suspect, considerable persuasiveness.
But, remember, there are still a lot of raw feelings among many of those delegates on the floor tonight. There's a credibility test that this speech had to pass among some of her most dedicated followers.
And I think, if she'd spent much of that speech, in effect, taking back some of the things she'd said rather than arguing the broad case -- I agree with Michael, it was a broad, somewhat generic case -- but that case certainly more than passed the threshold that had been raised over these last few weeks. -
PBS Newshour, 8-26-08Download - MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, Presidential Historian on"In Speech, Clinton Tries to Unite Party Behind Obama"::
Well, I think it's probably the best written and best delivered speech I've heard her give.
But I think you can criticize it on one ground, an Obama supporter might, and that is this is a dead-close election right now. Barack Obama, for Democrats who want to see him elected, is going to need all the help he can.
She said some pretty brutal things about Barack Obama and his equipment to be -- his experience to be president that are being aired in those McCain commercials.
And so what she said for Obama tonight -- you know, he'll bring health care, he'll do all these wonderful things -- it was great, but it was pretty generic. She could have said those things about Chris Dodd, if he had been nominated.
I think what it really needed more, if it was going to be really a huge help to Obama, would be,"I did say certain things early in the campaign, but because of what Obama has done in this campaign, I've seen him grow. I've come to question what I said against him. I have a new view that's a lot more positive. -
PBS Newshour, 8-26-08Download
- Gil Troy: Hillary Clinton's Soulless Speech Reminds Us Why She Lost -
HNN, 8-27-08
- Robert Rupp: Hillary's Speech Provides a Relief -
Wheeling Intelligencer, WV, 8-27-08
- Taylor Branch: Obama, Bill Clinton Remain Distant Despite Similar Stories, a Complex Relationship
Taylor Branch, a noted historian on racial politics, King biographer and longtime Clinton friend, who is writing a book detailing his private White House interviews with Clinton, said the former president was distraught by the popular interpretation that he had used code language to diminish Obama."He was particularly upset about the race card deal," Branch recalled."He said, 'I hate that phrase anyway. It makes it sound like a game -- playing a card -- when race is not a game and never was. It is deadly serious.'"
There is, from Branch's historical perspective, a natural progression from Clinton to Obama that in other circumstances could have created a political bond. Had Hillary not been in the race, he surmised,"I could see that Clinton might have endorsed him. Obama has a lot of attributes he values." -
WaPo, 8-27-08
- Douglas Brinkley: DNC bits: Charlize shows, Sean slouches, Rudy tours and Rather cries:
Rice University history professor and talking head Douglas Brinkley and others — sat around the table on the top floor of the downtown Denver library talking about Hurricane Katrina. -
The Denver Post, 8-26-08
- Manning Marable, professor of history and public affairs at Columbia University and director of the Center for Contemporary Black History:
The Democratic Convention Key Historic Moments Set The Stage For Obama -
NPR, 8-25-08
- Robert Dallek on"Biden to recast foreign policy from centre stage":
But Robert Dallek, professor of history at Boston University and the pre-eminent scholar on US presidents said yesterday that while vice-presidents never used to be important,"all changed in 1960 when Kennedy chose Lyndon Johnson as his running mate". The subsequent trend culminated in Dick Cheney's accumulation of immense power under George Bush. Dallek thought that the degree of power attained by Cheney"will make the next president cautious about giving the vice-president too much authority".
Guardian, UK, 8-27-08
- Robert Rupp: Convention Highlights Its History - Wheeling Intelligencer, WV, 8-26-08
- Richard Norton Smith on William Jennings Bryan: Father of the Modern Democratic Party: “It’s hard to think of a single speech that did more,” said presidential historian Richard Norton Smith. “On a personal level, it catapulted this unknown young congressman to the party’s nomination. On a broader level, it redefined the nature of what it meant to be a Democrat.” - PBS, 8-26-08
- Peniel Joseph: Jackson Speech Sets Stage for Obama Run: Presidential historian Peniel Joseph explains how Jesse Jackson’s 1984 speech at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco introduced themes of diversity into the party and paved the way for the candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama. - PBS, 8-25-08
- PENIEL JOSEPH, Brandeis University on"Michelle Obama's speech": Well, I thought Michelle's speech was extraordinary. I think, as a
historian, the person who I thought of was Rosa Parks. And I thought of Rosa Parks in December of 1965 refusing to
give up that seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and how in a lot of ways she's considered the god mother of the
civil rights movement. And I also thought of Fanny Lou Hamer, from Ruleville, Mississippi, who as a civil rights
activist was actually barred from the Atlantic City convention in 1964. And, finally, I thought of Shirley Chisholm,
who in 1972 tried to run for president. And many people said, why is this black woman running for president? And we
have Michelle Obama on the cusp of being the first lady of the United States of America. In terms of the whole night,
I think the whole notion of strength through diversity has been the theme of the Obama campaign. And tonight the
Democrats tried to stress that, and I think they succeeded in large part. -
PBS Newshour, 8-25-08Download
- RICHARD NORTON SMITH, George Mason University on"Michelle Obama's speech":
You know, I would disagree with David in some degree. I mean, first of all, you know, this whole subspecies,
this genre of convention oratory, the spousal speech has a somewhat checkered history. I mean, we've seen it
done very well, and we've also seen it done, quite frankly, not so well.
And I thought it was done very well this evening, if, as we've said all evening long, the real purpose of
this convention is to fill in a lot of blanks and to show to millions of people, include many who are inclined
to vote Democratic this fall, that if Barack Obama is not necessarily one of us, he is a lot more like us than
perhaps we thought before this week.
And, finally -- and most important of all -- I think those two adorable little girls were the biggest vote-getters
of the night. And they're probably good for a couple million votes right there.
-
PBS Newshour, 8-25-08Download
- MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, Presidential Historian on"Michelle Obama's speech":
Michelle and those girls were worth, I would say, four million votes and probably not wrong either, because, you know,
that speech wasn't important in terms of reading it line-by-line. What was important was in conveying what kind of a
human being Barack Obama is.
This is a real family. She loves her husband. He loves her. These daughters are these elegant, delightful,
loving kids. You can't fake that kind of stuff.
And one reason that you have an event like this is that, for Americans who do not know a candidate like Barack Obama,
this is a way of getting a sense of who he is. And I think that conveyed it in one second.
The other thing I would say is I think it's a good idea for us to pause, as Mark Shields was saying, to remember
this is someone who came to the brink of this nomination against almost all the odds.
Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton had control of the Democratic Party for years. Terry McAuliffe was chairman
for four years, a lot of advantages with fundraisers. It's one reason why, at the beginning of this year, so many
people thought that Hillary was inevitable.
Whether you're for Barack Obama or not, you have to say that this is something that affirms the great hope of the
founders that we'd never be in a situation that someone could come in without those advantages and still make it to
the top. -
PBS Newshour, 8-25-08Download
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| THE SPEECHES... | The Speeches....- Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich:
It's Election Day 2008. We Democrats are giving America a wake-up call. Wake up, America. In 2001, the oil companies, the war contractors and the neo-con artists seized the economy and have added 4 trillion dollars of unproductive spending to the national debt. We now pay four times more for defense, three times more for gasoline and home heating oil and twice what we paid for health care.
Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, their health care, their pensions. Trillions of dollars for an unnecessary war paid with borrowed money. Tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air, at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis, while all the president's oilmen are maneuvering to grab Iraq's oil.
Borrowed money to bomb bridges in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. No money to rebuild bridges in America. Money to start a hot war with Iran. Now we have another cold war with Russia, while the American economy has become a game of Russian roulette.
If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold. World records for violations of national and international laws. They want another four-year term to continue to alienate our allies, spend our children's inheritance and hollow out our economy.
We can't afford another Republican administration. Wake up, America. The insurance companies took over health care. Wake up, America. The pharmaceutical companies took over drug pricing.
Wake up, America. The speculators took over Wall Street. Wake up, America. They want to take your Social Security. Wake up, America. Multinational corporations took over our trade policies, factories are closing, good paying jobs lost.
Wake up, America. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more. War against Iran will mean $10-a-gallon gasoline. The oil administration wants to drill more, into your wallet. Wake up, America. Weapons contractors want more. An Iran war will cost 5 to 10 trillion dollars.
This administration can tap our phones. They can't tap our creative spirit. They can open our mail. They can't open economic opportunities. They can track our every move. They lost track of the economy while the cost of food, gasoline and electricity skyrockets. They skillfully played our post-9/11 fears and allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many. Every day we get the color orange, while the oil companies, the insurance companies, the speculators, the war contractors get the color green.
Wake up, America. This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left. This is call for you to go from down to up. Up with the rights of workers. Up with wages. Up with fair trade. Up with creating millions of good paying jobs, rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems. Up with creating millions of sustainable energy jobs to lower the cost of energy, lower carbon emissions and protect the environment.
Up with health care for all. Up with education for all. Up with home ownership. Up with guaranteed retirement benefits. Up with peace. Up with prosperity. Up with the Democratic Party. Up with Obama-Biden.
Wake up, America. Wake up, America. Wake up, America.
-
Ariz. Gov. Janet Napolitano Addresses the DNC:
Janet Napolitano's speech to the Democratic National Convention Tuesday, where the Arizona governor assessed
the country's financial struggles and how the Democratic ticket can improve the country's economic health. -
Download
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Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana
I'm a rancher who has made my living raising cattle and growing wheat, barley and alfalfa in Montana, a beautiful place with soaring peaks, pristine rivers and endless prairies. I'm probably a little biased, but I think it's the best place in the world to raise a family, to start and grow a business, and to build a community.
When I ran for governor of Montana, I had never before held elected office. I chose a Republican, John Bohlinger, to be my lieutenant governor, with the simple proposition that we could get more done working together than we could fighting. Because Montana really isn't a red state or a blue state. As Senator Obama might put it, we're a united state.
And so in three-and-a-half years, working together-Republicans and Democrats in Montana-we have cut more taxes for more Montanans than any time in history, increased energy production at the fastest rate in the history of Montana, invested more new money in education than ever before and we created the largest budget surplus in the history of Montana. That's the kind of change we brought to Montana, and that's the kind of change President Barack Obama is going to bring to America.
Like Senator Obama, my family has roots in the Great Plains. My grandparents were immigrants who came to Montana with nothing more than the clothes on their back, high hopes and faith in God. My family didn't have much in our little house. But a few things stand out in my memory: a crucifix and, on our kitchen wall, a framed picture of President Kennedy. My parents never even graduated from high school, but President Kennedy's idealism and spirit of possibility inspired them to send all six of us children to college. And when he said,"we're going to the moon," he showed us that no challenge was insurmountable.
A generation later, we face a great new challenge, a world energy crisis that threatens our economy, our security, our climate and our way of life. And until we address that energy crisis, our problems will only get worse. For eight long years, the White House has led us in the wrong direction. And now Senator McCain wants four more years of the same.
Can we afford four more years? Is it time for a change? When do we need it? And who do we need as the next President of the United States of America? That's right. Barack Obama is the change we need!
Right now, the United States imports about 70 percent of its oil from overseas. At the same time, billions of dollars that we spend on all that foreign oil seems to end up in the bank accounts of those around the world who are openly hostile to American values and our way of life. This costly reliance on fossil fuels threatens America and the world in other ways, too. CO2 emissions are increasing global temperatures, sea levels are rising and storms are getting worse.
We need to break America's addiction to foreign oil. We need a new energy system that is clean, green and American-made. And we need a president who can marshal our nation's resources, get the job done and deliver the change we need.
That leader is Barack Obama. Barack Obama knows there's no single platform for energy independence. It's not a question of either wind or clean coal, solar or hydrogen, oil or geothermal. We need them all to create a strong American energy system, a system built on American innovation.
After eight years of a White House waiting hand and foot on big oil, John McCain offers more of the same. At a time of skyrocketing fuel prices, when American families are struggling to keep their gas tanks full, John McCain voted 25 times against renewable and alternative energy. Against clean biofuels. Against solar power. Against wind energy.
This not only hurts America's energy independence, it could cost American families more than a hundred thousand jobs. At a time when America should be working harder than ever to develop new, clean sources, John McCain wants more of the same and has taken more than a million dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. Now he wants to give the oil companies another 4 billion dollars in tax breaks. Four billion in tax breaks for big oil?
That's a lot of change, but it's not the change we need.
In Montana, we're investing in wind farms and we're drilling in the Bakken formation, one of the most promising oil fields in America. We're pursuing coal gasification with carbon sequestration and we're promoting greater energy efficiency in homes and offices.
Even leaders in the oil industry know that Senator McCain has it wrong. 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.
That single-answer proposition is a dry well, and here's why. America consumes 25 percent of the world's oil, but has less than 3 percent of the reserves. You don't need a $2 calculator to figure that one out. There just isn't enough oil in America, on land or offshore, to meet America's full energy needs.
Barack Obama understands the most important barrel of oil is the one you don't use. Barack Obama's energy strategy taps all sources and all possibilities. It will give you a tax credit if you buy a fuel-efficient car or truck, increase fuel-efficiency standards and put a million plug-in hybrids on the road.
Invest $150 billion over the next 10 years in clean, renewable energy technology. This will create up to 5 million new, green jobs and fuel long- term growth and prosperity. Senator Obama's plan will also invest in a modern transmission grid to deliver this new, clean electricity from wind turbines and solar panels to homes, offices and the batteries in America's new plug-in hybrid cars.
- Former Gov. Warner Addresses the Democratic National Convention in Denver:
My fellow Democrats -- my fellow Democrats -- my fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, the most important contest of our generation has begun, not the campaign for the presidency, not the campaign for Congress, but the race for the future.
And I believe from the bottom of my heart, with the right vision and the right leadership, and the energy and creativity of the American people, there is no nation that we can't out-hustle and out- compete. And no American need be left out or left behind...
We need a president who understands the world today, the future we seek, and the change we need. We need Barack Obama as the next president of the United States....
But when we look around, we see that, for far too many Americans, that fair shot is becoming more of a long shot. How many kids have the grades to go to college, but not the money? How many families always thought their home would be their safest investment? How many of our soldiers come back from their second or third tour of duty wondering if the education and health care benefits they were promised would actually be there?
Two wars, a warming -- a warming planet, an energy policy that basically says,"Let's go borrow money from China so we can buy oil from countries that don't like us," how many people look at these things and wonder, what's the future hold for them, their children, their family, their country? How many?
In George Bush and John McCain's America, far too many....
You know, folks always ask me,"What's my biggest criticism of President Bush?" Now, I'm sure you've got your own, but here's mine.
It's not just the policy differences. It's the fact that this president never tapped into our greatest resource: the character and resolve of the American people....
This administration -- this administration failed to believe in what we can achieve as a nation when all of us work together. John McCain promises more of the same, a plan that would explode the deficit and leave that to our kids, no real strategy to invest in our crumbling infrastructure, and he would continue spending $10 billion a month in Iraq.
I don't know about you, but that's just not right. That's four more years that we just can't afford....
Barack Obama -- Barack Obama -- Barack Obama has a different vision and a different plan. Right now, at this critical moment in our history, we have one shot to get it right. And the status quo just won't cut it....
I know we're at the Democratic convention, but if an idea works, it really doesn't matter whether it's got a"D" or an"R" next to it, because this election...
... this election is not about liberal versus conservative. It's not about left versus right. It's about the future versus the past.
In this election, at this moment, at this moment in our history, we know what the problems are. We know at this critical juncture we only have one shot to get it right. And we know that these new times demand new thinking....
You know, as governor of Virginia, as governor of Virginia, it was humbling to occupy a position that was once held by Thomas Jefferson, almost as daunting as delivering the keynote address four years after Barack Obama...
... or speaking before Hillary Clinton.
Towards the end of his life, Thomas Jefferson, the founder of our party, wrote one of his frequent letters to his old rival, John Adams. He complained about the aches of getting old, but what was on his mind was, what would life be like for the next generation of Americans?
As Jefferson was ready to go to sleep, he closed his letter by writing,"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."
Jefferson got it right at the dawn of the 19th century, and it's our challenge to get it right at the dawn of the 21st.
This race is all about the future. And that's why we must elect Barack Obama as our next president...
... because the race for the future -- the race for the future will be won when old partisanship gives way to new ideas, when we put solutions over stalemate, and when hope replaces fear.
Tonight, looking out at all of you, and with a deep faith in the character and resolve of the American people, I am more confident than ever that we will win that race and make that future ours.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.
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Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Democratic Convention Speech
I am honored to be here tonight. I'm here tonight as a proud mother. As a proud Democrat. As a proud senator from New York. A proud American. And a proud supporter of Barack Obama.
My friends, it is time to take back the country we love.
And whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines.
This is a fight for the future. And it's a fight we must win together.
I haven't spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family and fighting for women's rights here at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander our promise of a country that really fulfills the hopes of our people.
And 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.
Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our president....
I will always be grateful to everyone from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the territories, who joined our campaign on behalf of all those people left out and left behind by the Bush administration.
To my supporters, to my champions -- to my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits -- from the bottom of my heart: Thank you.
Thank you because you never gave in. You never gave up. And together we made history....
Jobs lost, houses gone, falling wages, rising prices. The Supreme Court in a right-wing headlock and our government in partisan gridlock. The biggest deficit in our nation's history. Money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis.
Putin and Georgia, Iran and Iraq.
I ran for president to renew the promise of America. To rebuild the middle class and sustain the American Dream, to provide the opportunity to those who were willing to work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for college, a home and retirement, to afford the gas and groceries and still have a little left over each month.
To promote a clean energy economy that will create millions of green-collar jobs.
To create a health care system that is universal, high quality, and affordable so that every single parent knows their children will be taken care of. .
We want to create a world class education system and make college affordable again.
To fight for an America defined by deep and meaningful equality -- from civil rights to labor rights, from women's rights to gay rights, from ending discrimination to promoting unionization to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families. And to help every child live up to his or her God-given potential.
To make America once again a nation of immigrants and of laws....
Most of all, I ran to stand up for all those who have been invisible to their government for eight long years. Those are the reasons I ran for president, and those are the reasons I support Barack Obama for president.
I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that young boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?...
We need to elect Barack Obama because we need a president who understands that America can't compete in the global economy by padding the pockets of energy speculators while ignoring the workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas. We need a president who understands that we can't solve the problems of global warming by giving windfall profits to the oil companies while ignoring opportunities to invest in the new technologies that will build a green economy.
We need a president who understands that the genius of America has always depended on the strength and vitality of the middle class.
Barack Obama began his career fighting for workers displaced by the global economy. He built his campaign on a fundamental belief that change in this country must start from the ground up, not the top down. And he knows government must be about"We the people" not"We the favored few."
And when Barack Obama is in the White House, he'll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time. Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, we did it before with President Clinton and the Democrats. And if we do our part, we'll do it again with President Obama and the Democrats....
Now, John McCain is my colleague and my friend.
He has served our country with honor and courage.
But we don't need four more years of the last eight years....
Well, John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain doesn't think that 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis. John McCain wants to privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks it's OK when women don't earn equal pay for equal work.
Now, with an agenda like that, it makes perfect sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart....
These women and men looked into their daughters' eyes and imagined a fairer and freer world, and found the strength to fight. To rally and picket. To endure ridicule and harassment and brave violence and jail.
And after so many decades -- 88 years ago on this very day -- the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote became enshrined in our Constitution.
My mother was born before women could vote. My daughter got to vote for her mother for president.
This is the story of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.
How do we give this country back to them?
By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her life to bring slaves along the Underground Railroad.
On that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of advice.
If you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If they're shouting after you, keep going.
Don't ever stop. Keep going.
If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.
And even in the darkest of moments, that is what Americans have done. We have found the faith to keep going....
We've got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices of all who came before us, and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope.
That is our duty, to build that bright future, to teach our children that, in America, there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great, no ceiling too high for all who work hard, who keep going, have faith in God, in our country, and each other.
That is our mission, Democrats. Let's elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden for that future worthy of our great country.
Thank you. God bless you, and Godspeed.
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Obama Praises Clinton's Speech"That was excellent, that was a strong speech," Mr. Obama said as he watched the speech from Billings,
Mt."She made the case for why we're going to be unified in November and why we're going to win this election.
I thought she was outstanding."
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