As a white voter, I've got something to say. I just can't get past the fact that Barack Obama is black. And I unequivocally and unabashedly am extremely PROUD OF IT...Obama does stand for change and hope, that we have finally surpassed the bigotry that once shamed our nation, degraded our very Constitution and what it means to be free and have rights. It is the very brand of that bigoted, limited thinking that has destroyed our diplomatic relations with other countries, caused the terrorists to turn their malice toward us, caused the economic and class breakdown to favor "the rich". Are we ready to show the true colors of our flag, our souls, and our skins, that Americans and their President are substantive people of integrity who stand together and united in the dream and aim for greatness, not mediocrity.
FACING FACTS
Ellis Cose
To Dream a Little Dream of Us
This contest is not about who is the best orator; it is more about who is the best dream merchant.
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It will not be Ronald Reagan's "Morning again in America." the times are too dicey for that. But the Republican National Convention this week, no less than the Democratic one that just ended, will be a showcase for dreams—and arguments about how to make them real.
The Republicans will do their best to match the Democrats' soaring rhetoric. Though, on that front, they will be challenged. It's hard to imagine Cindy McCain evoking the fervor of Michelle Obama, or Tim Pawlenty and Arnold Schwarzenegger generating the drama and heat of back-to-back Clintons. And as compelling as John McCain's own life story is, he will be hard-pressed to top the oratory of Barack Obama—whose acceptance speech was all the more poignant for coming on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s legendary discourse on a dream whose fulfillment some see in Obama himself.
But this contest is not about who is the best orator; it is more about who is the best dream merchant. Make no mistake: both candidates, and both parties, have dreams to sell. Or, more accurately, they have different versions of the same dream— the American Dream. In the end, the election is likely to go to the candidate who best argues his dream is the more authentic—and his approach the most American.
Both candidates claim they are children of the Dream. Both are eloquent in offering up their versions of what it did for them, and of what it can do for other Americans. McCain's Republican version emphasizes toughness, individuality and loyalty—to country, to friends—that trumps virtually anything else. The Republican convention, themed "Country First," will wrap that vision in an American flag. It will roll out the narrative of an authentic war hero fighting a battle to lead an America that, while enduring some hard times, is basically sound. It will also be a celebration of the doggedness and ingenuity of the American people—people who, in McCain's opinion, are smart enough to know that a young man with a silver tongue but meager experience cannot lead them into a brilliant morning.
Obama's Democratic version of the Dream focuses less on celebrating individual success and more on protecting the vulnerable. But Obama also believes something that McCain does not: that the Dream itself is endangered. Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, said the dream "feels as if it's slowly slipping away." Many Obama supporters share his concern and think that dramatic measures are required. As Bernard Anderson (an assistant secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration and an Obama delegate) put it, "The fundamental process of upward mobility has broken down."
Within seconds of Obama's speech in Denver, the McCain camp blasted out what it deemed to be a corrective of the misleading claims Obama had made. Among them was Obama's statement that McCain didn't believe American families were hurting—that in McCain's view, the country had made "great progress economically."
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