DENVER — Four years ago, Barack Obama was keynote speaker at
the Democratic National Convention. He went on in November to take
a Republican-held Senate seat by the biggest margin of any
non-incumbent that year. He is returning to this year’s convention
as the nominee for president of the United States.
Former Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia isn’t openly pining for
history to repeat itself — that would require an Obama defeat at
the hands of John McCain — but as he delivered the Democrats’
keynote address last night he probably hoped his career would
follow a similar trajectory. Though Jim Gilmore, his Republican
opponent, isn’t exactly Alan Keyes, Warner is the Democrats’ surest
Senate pickup this year. He has a proven record of winning not just
in the D.C. spillover suburbs of northern Virginia but also in the
southwestern part of the state that rejected his successor Tim
Kaine and even Jim Webb.
The key difference between Obama and Warner is the latter’s more
Democratic Leadership Council-style approach to winning elections.
Warner has positioned himself toward the center on fiscal policy
(massive tax hikes notwithstanding) and national security, which
likely prevented him from competing in this year’s Democratic
primaries. His relatively pro-business and moderately hawkish
stances are out of favor in his party. In the era of the netroots,
New Democrats are so 1992.
So much so that even before Warner addressed the delegates the
Associated Press was predicting “Warner’s bipartisan tone could
rankle Democrats.” “There may be parts of the speech that aren’t
going to get a lot of applause,” Warner told the AP Monday, “but
I’ve got to say what I believe will get our country back on the
right path.” Democratic consultant Paul Begala, last seen fretting
about “eggheads and African-Americans,” complained, “This isn’t the
Richmond Chamber of Commerce.”
Marc Fisher of the Washington Post reported that many moderate Virginia Democrats
support Warner “but have deep doubts about Obama” and may vote for
McCain. The former governor hopes to hold onto these voters after
the convention in Denver is over. “Warner made it clear that he has
no intent of acting as a Democratic attack dog,” wrote Fisher.
Warner should have stuck with his original intent, because in
the attack dog role he was a poodle. “People always ask me what’s
my biggest criticism of President Bush,” he said. “I’m sure you all
have your own. 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.”
Don’t hold back, Mark.
The courageous appeals to bipartisanship rang similarly hollow.
“I know we’re at a Democratic convention,” Warner intoned, “but if
an idea works, it really doesn’t matter if it has an ‘R’ or a ‘D’
next to it.” He later touted his experience as governor with a
2-to-1 Republican legislature, proving that higher taxes are good
whether they have an “R” or a “D” next to them.
Throughout the speech, the crowd was polite but mostly unmoved.
Warner’s biggest applause lines were his call for 100-mile-per
gallon hybrid vehicles built “with American technology and with
American workers” and his observation that “if you can send a job
to Bangalore, India, you can sure as heck send one to Danville,
Virginia, and Flint, Michigan, and Scranton, Pennsylvania, and
Peoria, Illinois.” He drew cheers when he argued, “In a global
economy, you shouldn’t have to leave your home town to find a
world-class job.”
“Yahoo!” shouted an older woman who turned out to be part of
Warner’s Virginia cheering section. “He was a great governor,” she
told me, “and we’re really hoping he can help put the state in play
for Obama in November.”
It was a workmanlike speech quite unlike the red meat that
followed. Channeling the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards, Ohio Gov.
Ted Strickland said, “With the 22 million new jobs and the budget
surplus Bill Clinton left behind, George W. Bush came into office
on third base and then he stole second. And John McCain cheered him
every step of the way.”
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer worked the delegates into a frenzy
with his call-and-response routine: “Can we afford four more years?
(No!) Is it time for change? (Yes!) When do we need it? (Now!)”
By contrast, Warner tried to excite a liberal, partisan crowd by
calling for the president to wage economic war on Middle East
sponsors of terrorism and the Communist Chinese. “You can be
soft-hearted or hard-headed — both are going to lead you to the
same place,” he said.
Mark Warner will almost certainly be the next U.S. senator from
Virginia. But based on his skills as an orator and his tenuous read
on the Democratic Party’s mood, his remarks last night won’t lead
him to the same place as the previous Democratic convention’s
keynote speaker.
