Dems gathered in Denver will be witness to history
While tonight and tomorrow night at the Democratic national convention in Denver will belong to the Clintons, the thousands of party faithful attending the four-day event will witness political history being made.
When the roll call of delegates is taken Wednesday night, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois will become the first black presidential nominee of a major political party. That fact should not get lost in the sniping that has become a feature of presidential elections.
All of us, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, can be proud that the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas has succeeded in tearing down barriers that for so long kept large segments of the population on the fringes of politics.
That said, Obama cannot be blind to the reality that U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who will speak tonight, has a large delegation at the convention. Many of the Clinton delegates remain bitter over the primary battle that saw her fall short of the delegate count, despite her winning in all the big states and accumulating 18 million votes.
Whether Mrs. Clinton will be able to persuade her supporters to embrace Obama, as she has done, remains to be seen. Her speech tonight will be one of the most important of the convention.
On Wednesday night, former President Bill Clinton, whose popularity among Democrats is at an all-time high, will address the convention. His remarks will also signal how aggressively he intends to campaign for Obama.
Positive development
There is a development that bodes well for the Democratic ticket: the presumptive nominee’s selection of veteran U.S. Sen. Joe Biden to be his vice presidential running mate.
Until now, Republicans, led by their presidential nominee-in-waiting, U.S. Sen. John McCain, have belittled Obama’s foreign policy pronouncements, saying his three years in the Senate have given him little experience or expertise. Likewise, his service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been dismissed as inadequate.
Biden’s presence on the ticket changes the entire foreign policy debate. Not only is the senator from Delaware chairman of the foreign relations committee, but he is considered one of the foremost experts on issues ranging from the war in Iraq to Iran nuclear’s capabilities to the war on global terrorism, launched by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacks on America’s homeland.
Biden, who sought the Democratic nomination for president but fared poorly, stood head and shoulders above the crowded field in the debates on foreign affairs.
A speech he gave several months ago about America’s role in an ever-changing world and in the context of the war in Iraq makes it clear that McCain and his yet-to-be named running mate will not get away with the sort of criticism that has been directed at Obama.
An intelligent discussion of America’s foreign policy and such important issues as war and peace is demanded.
Given that $10 billion a month is being spent by the United States in Iraq while the Iraqi government will have more than $80 billion in the bank by the end of the year, the following question deserves attention: “Why aren’t we demanding that the Iraqis spend their oil revenue to rebuild their country?”
By selecting Biden to be his running mate, Obama has signaled that his administration’s foreign policy will not be left to chance or to ideologues. That’s good news for our country.