Bob Hayes Online

Clinton has been about to take the stage “any second now” for ten minutes, it seems.

Sean Hannity is chatting with Karl Rove. Rove expects a full-throated endorsement of Obama. I suggest instead we’ll see another Hillary-style incredibly well delivered, but substantively inadequate, speech. Just as Senator Clinton didn’t praise Obama much, President Clinton is likely to similarly focus on “big themes” and what he wants to see, rather than how great Obama is. I expect a fair amount of Republicans=evil, of course.

Clinton walks on to “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow”. I have never seen so many Democrats waving American flags before. It’s like Flagfest in 2008 in there. To top this, John McCain is going to need to wear a flag. Hillary and Chelsea aren’t waving flags, but just about everybody else is.

The crowd will not stop cheering President Clinton. Hillary has the glassy look of someone who is being upstaged bigtime. Clinton is asking the crowd to hush now, we have to get on with the show. He decides to just start talking over them, and again asks them to sit down, but they aren’t. They’re starting to chant “Bill, Bill Bill”. Boy he’s really trying to damp down the praise. “I love this, and thank you, but we have important work to do tonight.”

Michelle Obama looks similarly unpleased at the continuing adulation. “This should be Barack’s love!”

Clinton cracks that he’s here to open for Joe Biden. Makes a crack that the primary was so hot it increased global warming.

He’s proud of his wife’s great, great campaign.

Hmm, well, he’s leading off with how much he and Hillary are going to do to elect Barack Obama. A jibe at Obama about how important the Clintons are, with 18 million voters on her side.

Our nation is in trouble, on two fronts. American dream under siege at home, leadership in the world has been weakened. Here comes the economy litany, so I’m going to take the opportunity to run to the bathroom. Segues into a list of Bush administration failures.

Next president has to fix the American dream and restore America’s world leadership. Wow, way to load Obama down with an impossibly high standard, Bill! And Barack is apparently the man to do this amazing job. Obama is terrific – he is articulate and smart and wonderful. (Well, so much for my guess!) His policies are superior to the Republican alternatives.

The long primary tested and strengthened Obama (see, the Clintons helped!) and his selection of Joe Biden is apparently “hitting it out of the park”. Joe Biden’s vast experience and wisdom, supporting Barack’s insight and instincts, will give us the national security leadership we need. Hmm, isn’t having an experienced VP backing up the more emotion-driven leader the big meme among lefties about Bush-Cheney? Bill is a genius at praising Obama with one hand and slandering him with the other.

When Obama is president, we will have fewer enemies. Apparently deciding that an enemy isn’t a threat means he isn’t an enemy anymore, or maybe its the Obama charisma that will turn enemies into friends.

Now we’re into a relisting of great things Clinton wants to see done, and that Obama will apparently be able to do. Diplomacy first, military force as a last resort, that’s how Obama will run things. (Same as every other president in the history of the United States.) When Obama can’t convert adversaries into partners (ok, my sarcasm was apparently the actual causal mechanism being proposed), he will stand up to them.

More about the economy must be strong. (Hey, let’s tax the rich! That always causes economic growth.)

The world is better moved by the power of our example, than by the example of our power. That’s a good line.

Now some more Republican crimes. A lot of vigorous head shaking from Hillary. Health care, military overdeployment, Katrina. “America can do better that, and Barack Obama will do better than that.”

That got some good applause.

“But first we have to elect him. The choice is clear.”

John McCain is a good man, heroic service, terrible suffering, loves his country, isn’t an orthodox right-wing tool. But he’s wrong on the two big issues of the election, rebuilding the American dream and restoring American leadership. Agrees with the evil right-wing theory that is running the government. (Not sure which right-wing evil is being invoked here.) Republican leadership on the economy has ruined everything after Bill Clinton made everything wonderful in his term.

John McCain pushes bad policies. Bandaids for health care, etc. Going it alone in the world, instead of building shared opportunities. Four more years. In this case, the third time is not the charm. Lot of laughter and applause for that one.

16 years ago, he had the honor of leading the party to victory and bringing the nation to peace and prosperity. Republicans said that Clinton was too young and too inexperienced to be commander in chief. That didn’t work in 1992 (probably because Clinton did have executive experience.) Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

Switching to floaty rhetoric now. A lot of jabby finger gestures. More praise for Biden. Barack Obama will lead us away from the division and fear of the evil Bush Years, back to community and hope. (Ah, he had to get “hope” in there!) If you believe America must be a place for hope, then you have to vote Obama.

God bless you!

His energy level started really high but declined quickly; the middle and early end were pretty downbeat, relative to his best. Came up somewhat at the end. Well, I was wrong – there was some praise of Obama and some Obama love – and plenty of Republicans=evil.

Chelsea introduces. She is mercifully extremely brief.

I don’t know the introductory song. (This is because I am old.) Hillary wears a lovely orange pantsuit which has only a modest resemblance to orange sherbet.

Crowd is very enthusiastic. All those people in line were here to see Senator Clinton, and I talked to more than a couple of people today who were in Denver for Hillary, not for Obama. Quite a lot of enthusiasm on the floor. A wave of “Hillary!” signs has appeared.
My big question: how much McCain Bashing vs how much Obama love.

“Thank you very much, I am so honored to be here tonight!”

I am here tonight as a proud mother, as a proud Democrat, a proud Senator, a proud American, and a proud supporter of Barack Obama. “My friends, it is time to take back the country we love.” Hey, that’s McCain’s catchphrase. Whether you voted for her, or for Obama, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. (So much for the Hillary-backdoor conspiracy theories.)

We are all on the same team, and none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines. This is a fight for the future and it is a fight we must win together. I haven’t spent the past 35 years in the trenches, advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women’s rights here at home and around the world, to see another Republican in the White House squander our promise of a country that really fulfills the hopes of our people. You haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership. No way, no how, no McCain.

(She is speaking with such deliberateness and articulation that the above paragraph is almost word for word.)

Barack Obama is my candidate, and he must be our President. Tonight, I ask you to remember what a Presidential election is about. When the polls have closed and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you, the American people. For me, it’s been a privilege to meet you in your homes, workplaces, and communities. Your stories reminded me every day that America’s greatness is bound up in the American people. Your hard work, devotion for duty, love for our children, and determination to keep going in the face of obstacles, have taught me so much. You have made me laugh and made me cry. I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two autistic kids, and had no health insurance, and discovered she had cancer. She greeted me with her bald head painted with my name on it, and asked me to fight for health care for her and her daughters. I will always remember the young man in a Marine Corps t-shirt who waited for months for health care, and asked me to take care of my buddies who are still over there. I will always remember the young boy who told me that his mom worked for minimum wage and her employer had cut her hours, and he didn’t know what his family would do. I will always be grateful for everyone in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the territories, who joined our campaign on behalf of all the people left out and left behind by the Bush Administration.

To my supporters, the Sisters of the Traveling Pantsuit (audience laughter), thank you. We never gave up and we made history, and along the way America lost two great Democratic champions. One of our finest young leaders, Arkansas Democratic chair Bill Watney, who believed with all his heart that America and the South should be Democratic from top to bottom, and Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, a courageous leader and loving mother who never gave up her quest to make America better and fairer. She was an inspiration to me and to us all. Our heart goes out to her son and to Bill’s wife, who came to Denver to join this family of Democrats.

Bill Watney and Stephanie Tubbs-Jones knew that after eight years of George Bush, people are hurting at home and our standing is eroding around the world. We have a lot of work ahead of us, lost homes, lost jobs, a Supreme Court in right-wing headlock, the biggest deficit in our history. I ran for President to rebuild the middle class and provide opportunities to the people willing to work for it, so people could afford gas and groceries, to create a new energy system etc., to create a universal right to college.  We need to create a world-class educational system and make college affordable, to make sure that America is defined by deep and meaningful equalities, civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights. Ending discrimination, promoting unionization. To help every child live up to his or her God-given potential. To make America a nation of immigrants and of laws. To make government an agent of public good, not private plunder. To end the war in Iraq, bring our troops home with honor, and care for veterans.

We will work for an America that will join with our allies in confronting shared challenges (poverty, genocide, terrorism, global warming). Most of all, I ran up to stand for those who have been invisible to their government for eight long years. That’s why I ran for President, and that’s why I support Barack Obama for president.

I want you to ask yourselves, were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like it? Or were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer? Were you in it for that young boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the invisible people?

We need leaders again who can tap into American optimism and confidence, leaders who can help us show ourselves and the world that with our ingenuity, creativity, and innovation there are no limits to what is possible in America.

This will not be easy. Progress never is. But it will be impossible if we don’t fight to put a Democrat back into the White House. We need to elect Barack Obama because we need a President who understands that America can’t compete in the global economy by giving money to oil speculators. (Damn that marketplace!) We need a president who understands that the genius of America depends on the strength and vitality of the middle class. Barack Obama started his career fighting for workers displaced by the global economy. He knows that change comes from the bottom up, and that government isn’t about the favored few.

Barack Obama will revitalize the economy, defend working people, and meet the global challenges of our time. Democrats know how to do this; we did it before with President Clinton and the Democrats. If we do our part, we’ll do it again with President Obama and the Democrats. Just think of what America will be as we transform our energy economy, create millions of jobs, give middle class families the tax relief they deserve, and she cannot wait to see Barack Obama sign into law a health care plan that covers every single American.

Barack Obama will end the war responsibly, bring our troops home, and repair our alliances around the world, and he will have a terrific partner in Michelle Obama. Everyone who saw her speech knows she will be a great First Lady, and we are fortunate that Joe Biden will be at Obama’s side, a strong leader and good man who understands economics and foreign policy. (Good to have those competencies in the Administration.)

John McCain is a colleague and a friend. He has served with honor and courage, but we don’t need four more years of the last eight years. More economic stagnation and less affordable health care, more high gas prices and less alternative energy, more jobs getting shipped overseas and fewer jobs created here at home, more skyrocketing debt and home foreclosures, more war and less diplomacy, more of a government where the privileged come first and everyone else comes last…well, John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. He doesn’t think there’s a health care crisis, and wants to privatize Social Security, and thinks it’s OK for women to receive unequal pay for equal work. It makes sense that McCain and Bush will be together at the Republican convention, because these days they’re hard to tell apart. (Great enthusiasm.)

America is still around after 232 years because we have risen to every challenge in every new time, changing to be faithful to our new values of equal opportunity and the common good. I know what the means for Americans. I’m a Senator because of the efforts of the suffragists. 72 year campaign to get the vote for women. And 88 years ago today the 19th amendment became enshrined in the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. My mother was born before women could vote, my daughter got to vote for her mother for President. This is the story of America.

Harriet Tubman suddenly brought into it. “Keep going!” Don’t ever stop – keep going, if you want a taste of freedom, keep going. Even in the darkest moments, that is what Americans have done. We have found the faith to keep going. I have seen it in our firefighters, teachers, union workers, small business people, our military. We’re Americans, we’re not big on quitting. Before we can keep going, we’ve got to get going by electing Obama the next President of the United States. We don’t have a moment to lose, or a vote to spare. The fate of the nation and our children hangs in the balance. Think of the children come election day. Think about your grandparents when you vote. Fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope.

In America there is no chasm too deep, no ceiling to high, for all who work hard, have faith in God and our country, and each other. That’s our mission, Democrats – let’s elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden. God bless you, and Godspeed.

Hillary wrote to NASA as a girl and said she wanted to be an astronaut, but they weren’t taking girls. She’s glad this has changed.

Hillary gives little girls something to look up to. Asks the woman who plays her on SNL if she really laughs like that. “Hillary doesn’t sing well. You don’t want her to sing.” Our first serious female Presidential candidate. She’s led on education and healthcare. “American Girl” is playing in the background.

Her mother told her she could do anything she wanted in America. Chelsea’s voiceover says that her mom doesn’t care about her own ambition, it’s about America. Yeah, ok, kid. 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling. Anyone who has been counted out but refused to be knocked out, for moms and dads who told their kids they can be anything they want to be, the veterans, for everyone who works hard, this one is for you! (This one what? 2nd place finish?)

18 million cracks in the glass ceiling again. A whole new world of possibility. Now I believe she’s finally coming out to speak.

Apparently the security queue is so long that there are still thousands of people outside wanting to see Hillary, so they’re bringing out the light guns.

Brian Schweitzer named a Republican to the lieutenant governorship, lowered taxes, and greatly expanded energy production in Montana. Oddly enough, this gets little applause from the crowd. Barack Obama will do the same for the country. (OK, great!)

He had a framed picture of President Kennedy in his boyhood kitchen, even though his parents had no education. (Not sure what the connection is here.) But they believed in education so they worked hard to send their kids to school.

Until we address the energy crisis, our problems will only get worse. The White House is leading us in the wrong direction. Now Senator McCain wants four more years of the same. Can we afford four more years? NO, responds the crowd. Everyone got the talking points, I guess. Is it time for a change? YES! When do we need it? NOW! And who do we need as the next President? BARACK OBAMA! This guy should be leading protesters outside.

Right now we import 70% of our oil, while spending billions of dollars all over the world that always seems to end up in the accounts of people who are hostile to American values and our way of life. (PETA gets oil money?) CO2 emissions are increasing global temperatures, sea levels are rising (I thought they had stopped when Obama made that speech, but I guess I was wrong.) We need a new clean energy system that is clean, green, and American-made. We need a president who will marshal the nation’s resources, get the job done and deliver the change we need. That leader is Barack Obama!

Barack Obama knows there’s no single platform for this new energy system. Oil, geothermal, renewable, we need them all, in a system built on American innovation. After eight years of a White House waiting hand and foot on Big Oil, John McCain offers more of the same. At a time of rising fuel prices, while American families struggle to keep their tanks full, John McCain voted 25 times against renewable and alternative energy. (Booo!) He voted against biofuels, against solar energy (booo!) – he even voted against wind energy. This hurts American energy independence and cost 100,000 jobs.

John McCain has taken more than $1 million in contributions from the oil and gas industry. (Crowd is shocked.) Now he wants to give those companies $4 billion in tax breaks. He’s a devil, that McCain! (<a href=”http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/obamas_oil_spill.html”>FactCheck.org</a> says that Obama has taken $213,000, so I guess he’s only 21.3% evil.

A joke about McCain’s inability to enumerate his houses wins applause in the blogger lounge. There isn’t enough oil in America to meet our energy needs. The most important barrel of oil is the one we don’t use. Barack Obama understands this. Barack Obama will take every opportunity to create new sources of energy, across the board. (Does that include ANWR?)

Obama’s energy policy will create 5,000,000 green-collar jobs and save America. He’ll give you a tax credit for buying a hybrid. Barack will provide total energy independence. John McCain’s plan will not, because it is (once again) four more years. America needs energy independence. The petrodictators will never own American wind and sunshine and we should never again be beholden to their barrels of crude. The Obama energy plan is ambitious, and critics will pick away at the details. Cynics will say it’s impossible. Senator McCain will say “no we can’t”. He’s a downer, that Senator McCain.

Can’t America do better than four more years of Washington as usual? (Yes!) Is it time for a change? (Yes!) As strong a team as Obama and Biden are, they need all of us to win this election and create a new energy system and bring in an era of American energy independence. They need everyone to stand up. (The crowd duly stands up.)

We want them! We want them to hear you, from Denver to Detroit, from Montana to Mississippi, from California to the Carolinas…even our men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan can hear us. Can we afford four more years of the same? (NO!) Is it time for change now? (YES!) Are we going to declare our energy independence and change the world? (YES!) Who’s going to do it? Barack Obama!

Let’s go win this election.

Deval Patrick was born poor in the South Side of Chicago, but in one generation has risen to the chief executive of Massachusetts, and his daughter has traveled on four continents. This shows that America is awesome. (I guess that the eight Clinton years made up for the failed bad policies of the Republican presidents who presided over the majority of the time that Governor Patrick was making that ascent.)

Greatest Generation, Federal highway system, system of colleges and universities, civil rights movement. These are the chapters of the American story, and Barack Obama understands that. Barack understands that the gateway to a better life is a first-rate education. That’s why he’ll invest in early education so that all these kids will stop failing out of kindergarten. Pay teachers more, emphasize math and science more, help students pay for college. A well-educated America will make things again. (Yeah, because Yale graduates always hit the assembly line.) Working people will be able to see a path to the middle class and a secure future.

John McCain says he believes in education, but we know he’s lying because he’s against funding Head Start and wants to abolish the Department of Education. This is no surprise, because John McCain is hypocritical just like Bush. “These are the same folks who say they believe in small government and fiscal restraint, but are responsible for the biggest runup of the Federal deficit in history.” (Well, he’s got us there.) Compassionate conservatives abandoned people before and after Katrina.

The American people have had enough, but Democrats don’t deserve to win just because Republicans deserve to lose. We need more and better programs and policies and we also need a better vision. When he was growing up in Chicago, everything was broken. But later when he got a scholarship to boarding school, things got better. His teachers would get on his case if he didn’t perform. They were trying to teach them that they were members of a community. Barack Obama challenges us to rebuild our national community.

Government can’t solve every problem. But government is the name we give the things we choose to do together. Let’s not kid ourselves, this won’t be easy. The status quo is powerful. Lots of people, even some in the Democratic party, don’t want to rock the boat. If we’re going to get the leadership that the times demand, we have to work for it. Have to ask Republicans and independents to take a chance. We have to put our cynicism and learn to say again, like the Greatest Generation, that “yes we can.”

(Little applause for this seemingly easy applause line.)

Barack Obama isn’t just a campaign, it’s a <em>cause</em>.

After wending my way through an absolute crush at the security checkpoint for the Pepsi Center, and just as I had settled into the Blogger Lounge, the cell phone rang – and it was my blogging buddy David Jones, who needed his credential. So I limped back downstairs, found him out in the unwashed masses beyond the security fence, and gave him his credential. Then back through the line, which if anything had grown larger and denser.

This is my excuse for not live-blogging the speeches of Sebelius and others. Now Ted Strickland is on, apparently as the introduction for Hillary Clinton.

Apparently there is a family sitting at a kitchen table in Ohio, worried that DHL is eliminating their job and concerned for their son or daughter who is in Iraq. As these people have sleepless nights, John McCain is sleeping soundly. This apparently represents a moral failing on his part. (I had disturbed sleep last night, so I guess I don’t have to feel guilty.)

Also, McCain is bad because he thinks the fundamentals of the economy are strong, and has never been part of the middle class.

When Strickland was a little boy, he went to a one-room schoolhouse. And when they made mistakes on their homework, they had to correct them. John McCain doesn’t think there are any mistakes to amend, so presumably he would have flunked out of Strickland’s one-room educational system. McCain’s policies are stuck in the past, and will take America backwards.

Stuck in the past trade agreements are forcing people with high skills to take jobs stocking freezers at the grocery store. Also stuck in the past is believing that we need oil and can’t do everything with solar and wind. And we’re sending all our money to Iraq, while our schools and bridges crumble.

George Bush was born on third base, and thought he hit a triple. I’m pretty sure someone has said that before. But Bush was also born on third base, and then stole second. This is apparently well-received; I’m missing the decoder ring that would make sense of it.

We can’t afford the status quo. We need change. Barack Obama will bring us the change we need. (Behind me a blogger who apparently missed out on his Koolaid ration starts chanting “Change! Hope! Change!” in a somewhat sarcastic tone of voice.) Barack Obama will give a $1000 tax refund to middle-class families. He will create 5,000,000 green-collar jobs. In Barack Obama’s America, people will be able to get loans for college and to start small businesses.

We need Barack Obama! OK, now Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will speak. Guess HE’s going to introduce Hillary.

Mary Gail is a delegate from the state of Massachusetts. Far from a convention “newbie” like myself, this is Mary Gail’s fifth Democratic convention. A long-time party activist back in Hamden County, Massachusetts, Mary Gail is the past chair of her town’s Democratic committee and the past chair of the Hamden County Democratic committee as well. Originally pledged for Hillary, Mary Gail expressed solid support for Senator Barack Obaa, telling me “when everything is over, we’re going to leave here very united. It is very important that we win the White House.”

So far, Mary Gail is enjoying the convention very much. In her civilian life, she is a senior high school teacher (US history and government) in Enfield, Connecticut, just over the state line. I caught Mary Gail as she headed over to meet some friends before the formal convention session starts later this afternoon, and she was gracious enough to give me a few minutes of her time to talk about the election. Reporting that journalists in her home town are still obsessed over the Clinton-Obama split, Mary Gail emphasizes that despite her early support for Clinton, and that the party must honor the depth of that support, she is solidly backing Obama.

“People have to understand that this was a good and hard-fought campaign on both sides. This is the first time a woman has gotten anywhere near this far, and that has to be honored, not so much for us [Hillary supporters] as for our children. We have to look to the future, into the 21st century, even as we respect our past.”

Tricia is local to Denver and comes to have a quiet smoke away from the hubbub of the passers-by on 16th. She is wearing an Obama button and tells me she’s been out at the events today. “I’ve been to some marches at Civic Center Park…US-Iraq Veterans Against the War”. She says that Obama is definitely candidate. Tricia has spent the last 15 years in Denver, and works as an office assistant at Presbyterian St. Luke’s Hospital. She believes that the important issues are Iraq, the economy, and education. Asked about other Democratic candidates, she shakes her head: “Barack from the beginning.”

Tricia liked Michele Obama’s speech. “I thought she did a good job. She was giving a message of unity in the country, to help the ordinary person.” She believes Obama will win in a landslide. “He is a very good person, and a very intelligent person.” Tricia is having a lot of fun this week – “It’s great to have the convention in Denver!” Alas, she was unable to get a ticket for the big speech on Thursday.

The Matthews are selling a commemorative DNC shirt, and say that they tried to avoid the partisan divide by selling something just to commemorate the convention, rather than a particular candidate. No luck, however – last night, after Michele Obama’s speech, Reese and Danielle were with some other vendors and report that the crowd was irritable and snide, making nasty comments about vendors being desperate. “I’m still smiling – still being friendly! But I expected they would be more friendly,” says Danielle.

The Matthews live in Longmont and are visiting the convention hoping to make a mortgage payment by selling their embroidered Polo shirts. So far they’ve made four sales. The city gave out vendor permits to many people, and most of them went to out-of-state vendors. Reese tells me that he was shocked when they went downtown to pull their permit, and found that nearly everyone getting a permit was from out-of-state. “I don’t know what it cost the city to get the DNC to come here, but I know it wasn’t cheap.” The Matthews feel that more of the revenue from the convention should stay in the state. “We were expecting a bigger turnout too, and maybe that will happen at the end of the week when Obama gives his speech. But the vendors I talk to are struggling…It should be an excellent opportunity.”

At this point in the interview, three scruffy young men walked past on the mall, holding up a banner demanding the return of Crystal Pepsi to store shelves. No word on the sincerity of their demand, but the Matthews seem like very sincere people. They plan to continue their efforts this week. Best of luck to them.

After a series of harrowing adventures on foot trying to navigate the wilds of Denver’s convention district yesterday, your humble blogger is taking a more sedentary approach today. Weeping only slightly for the expense, I’ve parked the news wagon at a secure location and am currently blogging from Writer’s Square, just a few blocks from the Pepsi Center. There is a lot of convention traffic, but it is not overwhelming and there are some ordinary denizens of Denver wandering about.

It’s a beautiful day – blue skies, nice and warm but not quite over the margin into oppressively hot. The odd demonstrator or activist waves a sign along the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall, and occasionally a chant is heard, but the protesters seem mostly confined to their cage for the afternoon. Although I am within spitting distance of the Pepsi Center, the convention element of the crowd is steady but thin. I’m hoping to do some individual interviews today, just talking with folks both attending and just living with the convention. Right now my immediate agenda is finding a table and some coffee. Perhaps the Starbucks twenty feet to my left can provide both.