I, like many of you, forced myself to sit through nearly all
four long days of the Democratic Convention; albeit with my trusty
mute button ever ready for protection from long-winded attempts at
oratory and worn-out pop-music ditties. And, as political
conventions go, it was mostly a snore-fest. But every now and then,
I was roused from my somnambulant state — induced no doubt by the
dulcet tones of Jimmy Carter and Al Gore — by themes and remarks
that left me bewildered.
Watching the pre-packaged, saccharine videos that introduced the
major players and listening to the live comments from relatives of
same made me wonder: what in heaven’s name is the point of all
this? On the one hand, we were treated to a bevy of images of the
young Michelle Obama being raised in a loving, close-knit family,
while her husband’s video was a bittersweet tale evoking a young
boy stung by the desertion of his father.
The impression I got from these videos was that although they
came from these two different backgrounds, through education and
hard work they managed to attain what used to be called the
“American dream”; a splendid home for their two adorable daughters
and an income of $4.2 million last year. But
maddeningly, when he took the platform to accept his party’s
nomination to lead a nation of which he said, “in no other country
on earth is my story even possible,” he charged that this dream has
died. I’m so confused.
WHICH IS IT? Is this a country where a single mom could raise a son
who could go on to attend Columbia and Harvard, or have the
programs and conditions that propelled Obama and his wife to fame
and fortune changed in some way? In his acceptance speech he said:
For over two decades, he [John McCain] has subscribed
to that old, discredited Republican philosophy — give more and
more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down
to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership
Society, but what it really means is, you’re on your own. Out of
work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into
poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, even if you don’t
have boots. You’re on your own.
But it was in the “decade of greed” that he and his wife
flourished; two minority students garnering four Ivy League degrees
between them in the 1980s. If “the dream” could survive the horrors
of the Reagan years, surely it is still attainable now. Yet,
listening to Obama, the answer is that it can only revive if he and
his party “take back America.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but haven’t
they controlled both chambers of Congress for the past two years?
I was further confused — though I really shouldn’t be — that
despite all his talk of “change,” Obama adheres to the same old
liberal game plan that seems to suggest that, once Americans
achieve their dreams of success through hard work and
entrepreneurship, they then become the enemy. After all, if we are
to despise corporate America and only cut taxes for small
businesses, what happens when they succeed and become big
businesses? If we should over-tax the rich, even until death, why
in the world would anyone aspire to wealth? Liberals give me a
headache.
ANOTHER THING THAT confounded me: Do the Democrats think that their
whole audience is comprised of history-challenged dolts? It seems
so. If not, why oh why did they keep invoking Abraham Lincoln, the
founder of the modern Republican Party? I mean, the media and our
school system have done a great job erasing the fact that it was
Southern Democrats who nearly scuttled the Civil Rights Act, but
Abraham Lincoln? Color me confused.
Speaking of dolts, imagine how in the world someone who picked
Joe Biden as a running mate can possibly be caught on the national
stage saying, “For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by
one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand
that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the
same old politics with the same old players and expect a different
result.”
And how, after penning such witty and timely barbs as “eight is
enough,” could his speech writers have allowed the following to
escape Obama’s mouth: “If you don’t have a record to run on, then
you paint your opponent as someone people should run from”?
It took almost a week for Barack Obama and the Democrats to
deliver their mangled message of hope and change to the American
public; whatever it was. But it took John McCain only two words:
Sarah Palin.
