A Glorious Day

Today was a glorious day in Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech, Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency of the United States of America in front of 84,000 people. It was an occasion of profound symbolism, sending ripples around the globe, rattling stereotypes and potentially changing the image of our country forever.

Folks stood in line for miles to get into the stadium to see and hear Obama's acceptance speech.

It is now 67 days to the election.

Yahoo's Politico says Obama mastered his moment. Here are some excepts from that report:

Obama’s speech soared many times, but it always came back to earth. And it usually came back to earth on John McCain’s head.

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You can accuse Barack Obama of a lot of things — and no doubt McCain will do so next week at the Republican National Convention — but you can’t accuse Obama of being a cream puff. He is ready to get it on, high road, low road, or middle road, against the Republicans.

Their greatest sin? Well, much of what they have told us about fighting terror, Obama said, has been fiction.

The Democrats have forced the Republicans to act radically (and desperately). It looks like John McCain will pick Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate. To stay in the game, the Republicans have to follow the Democrat play book. So they pick a member of the other underrepresented class in an effort to counterbalance the Democrats' pick of Obama. They pick a young woman, in hopes of appealling to youth and women, a young woman with a record of changing things in Alaska. What radical transformations in American politics Obama is achieving!

So McCain's defensive strategy is to try to occupy the same space Obama and the Democratic Party have already staked out.

But is Sarah Palin prepared to take the 3:00 am phone call? Can she go nose to nose with Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail? You can bet Hillary and Bill will take her on.

Dr. King's entire "I Have A Dream" speech can be found here.

"Born in the USA" joins the Democrats' theme in proper form.

More INVESCO stadium pictures:

Photo credits: Yahoo! News

Convention Update

Check out CNN and Fox online coverage:

CNNPolitics.com

FoxNewsPolitics.com

Fox has a great live feed here. It even has a full screen mode.

Democratic Convention opens

The Democratic National Convention opened at 7:00 a.m. this morning (2:00 p.m. Sunday in Denver) with an interfaith gathering. The official opening gavel will be 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, Saipan time.

Here's an outline of the schedule:

I'd 've never belived it if I hadn't seen it myself

Good God! Joe Biden for VP?

Here's what I just posted on Obama's website:

No way! What a terrible choice! He brings nothing to the ticket. He dissembles like it is drinking a glass of water. He is unoriginal and inauthentic. He repeatedly says foolish things, revealing his shallow character and intellectual vacuity.

He voted for the Iraq war and the PATRIOT Act's diminishment of the very liberties that make America great (and despised by our enemies). He displayed his latent, unconscious racism when he called you "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy ... that’s a storybook, man." He treated Anita Hill abominably in the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings.

He's an Eastern establishment liberal, the kind of guy who gives credence to right-wing intellectual arguments that liberals secretly aim to hold persons of color and the poor down through benefits and entitlements.

You, in contrast, have good solid Midwestern down-to-earth liberal credentials. You need this guy like you need an albatross around your neck in the equatorial doldrums.

UPDATE Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008, 2:39 PM: FOX has been in overdrive trying to spin Biden's selection to be vice president negatively and use it to reinforce the Republican "not experienced enough to be president" storyline. They have had talking head after talking head -- including former Democratic party pollster Pad Caddell expressing disappointment in Obama -- on saying Hillary Clinton would have been a better choice.

Let's be clear, of the serious contenders for the slot, only Hillary would have been a worse choice. If, for whatever reason, it boiled down to a choice between Senator Biden and Senator Clinton for the job, then Senator Obama clearly made the right decision.

UPDATE #2, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008, 12:06 AM: The Obama campaign sent out the text message announcing the selection of Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Joseph Biden as the choice for vice president -- at 3:00 AM. The three a.m. phone call. There's pointed symbolism for you ... and karma for Hillary.

Take Action Now

Watch out for the finger on the button ....

Prevent another foolish, reckless war by President Bush. Sign the petition. Support S. Res. 356.
"Any offensive military action against Iran must be explicitly approved by congress." (S. Res. 356)

Sobering clues to a McCain foreign policy ....

This week two senior members of Senator John McCain's presidential campaign staff were forced to resign amid revelations that their lobbying firm took in hundreds of thousands of dollars representing Myanmar's brutal military regime.

Nevertheless, McCain's campaign is still headed by Charlie Black, who ran a lobbying firm that represented war profiteer, private security force Blackwater Worldwide, Iraqi "leader" Ahmed Chalabi, suspected of widespread fraud, Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, and Angola terrorist rebel Jonas Savimbi.

Campaign co-chair Tom Loeffler used to represent Saudi Arabia.

These are documented facts and provide a sobering glimpse into what a McCain foreign policy would look like: coddling dictators, insensitive to untold human suffering, nasty and brutish, accepting of corruption, embarrassingly short of America's greatness.

Here are the sources:

"A Lobbying Firm and Its McCain Ties," MSNBC, May 12, 2008

John McCain's Lobbyist Connections," Public Campaign Action Fund

"McCain's Lobbyists in Trouble for Foreign Lobbying," Progressive Media USA, May 11, 2008

"McCain Aides Are Tied," New York Sun, May 12, 2008

"Obama Calls on Rice to Address Human Rights Violations in Saudi Arabia," November 19, 2007

"Saudi Arabia," Human Rights Watch World Report, 2007

MoveOn.org has a somewhat tongue-in-cheek poll on what McCain ought to do about this situation. Join the fun and express your opinion here.

And, of course, we can all Vote for Change and participate in the revitalization of democracy in America.

Bill Clinton on choosing candidates ....

"You better vote for the candidate who wants you to think and hope ...."

Okay, that was 2004, and we know how words can change in meaning. Right, Bill?