I spent the day on John McCain’s website, looking for reasons for me to pay attention to his message. I wasn’t able to find any - if there is one to speak of. I then went looking for Joe Biden’s address to the convention, which wasn’t yet available. So I started going over his older clips, and the address he gave at the Democratic Convention in 2004.
I also listened to Michelle Obama speak, and realized what humble and simple beginnings this Democratic candidate for president is coming from. And then comes Biden’s address to the American electorate. Listening to Biden speak at the Democratic Convention tonight brings to mind the differences that separate him from McCain. The fact that he relates to the intellect, unlike McCain’s “another Bush Term”, is more than merely attractive. [Full speech here.]
I see amazing posts already speaking about what this means for the Middle East, the Muslim world, and the international community at large. Ex-president Jimmy Carter calls this a “Momentous event for the entire world.” Now Carter’s a smart and well-informed, well-travelled individual, and he has been speaking out so loudly against the running-into-the-ground of the once-great American image, that he’s been taken completely off the general media scene. This has become the way of our time. Stephen Colbert courageously conquered the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, (2006), listing numerous fallacies of the time within one speech, and instead of being news that everyone talked about and considered the issues raised, it caused controversy! What is this saying about what we have become as a people? Something has to change - yet who does it?
I have had strangers come and knock at my door to speak to me, young democrats not even old enough to vote yet, asking me if there’s anything I’d like to contribute to the Democratic Message for this year. I have personally heard Howard Dean talk, at the 5th Annual OPEN Conference, about how this time they have started from the ground up; and I am touched. I feel like this is the first time that a mass-movement has arisen out of the land, with the energy and the will of the people pushing it as its driving force, that may forever change our world. And I, for one, am finding myself wondering how, and what, Barack Obama will say tomorrow. Yet it does not surprise my eyes to see these words formed in front of my face: I might already be convinced that Obama is the man for the job. McCain, you’ve followed the tried-and-tested path of nasty politics one too many times, it would seem. I want to see how this world will turn out if, or when, Obama and Biden take to the reigns of power in this great land, and lead it to the greatness it so rightly deserves.
