Home › Elections › Elections Opinion
Hopes and hazards of political conventions
Chaos or smooth sailing?
STORY TOOLS
More from Elections Opinion
As Democrats flock to Denver, they have some enormous hurdles to jump at their convention, and it's far from certain they're up to the challenge.
Americans are so down in the dumps right now, what with the rotten economy, foreign- policy tensions and general angst, that if the Democrats try to cheer them up with promises, such talk will seem unrealistic, pandering and pie-in-the-sky rhetoric.
But if the Dems proclaim nothing but gloom and doom, blaming Republicans for everything from lost jobs to dental plaque, Americans will likely tune them out.
Barack Obama, the standard bearer, is still a mystery to many Americans. Some think he is a Muslim. (He is not.) Some think his agenda is anti-American. (It's not.) Some think he is inexperienced. (Relatively speaking, he is.) Some think he is elitist. (We aren't sure.)
His energy, oratory, life story, charisma and youth charm his supporters. But the convention is supposed to convince the as-yet unconvinced while bolstering the base. And Democrats are so prone to chaos, selling Obama is a major task.
Is Denver going to be the Clintons' last hurrah? Is Hillary Clinton planning to use the convention as a staging ground for another run for the presidency in 2012? Is Bill Clinton going to behave himself? Tune in, folks. The soap opera continues.
Americans are furious with Congress. And because both the House and Senate are controlled by Democrats, much of that fury is directed as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
They argue they don't have enough of a majority in either body to push their agenda. But to many Americans, including those who want American soldiers to stop dying in Iraq and those frantic about high energy prices, that rationale seems weak.
The convention planners say they will attack John McCain and sell the virtues of Obama. But reporters will be writing about the partying, the special interests and the hangers-on who hope to get rich and/or powerful by attaching themselves to a new generation of Democrats. The usual suspects will be in their usual perches doing their usual logrolling.
Obama plans to make his acceptance speech in a huge football stadium with thousands in attendance. After the spectacular Olympics, will it fall flat? Will so many Americans be clinging to their last precious days of vacation that they'll tune him out?
After eight years of the Clintons and eight years of George W. Bush, Americans would like to hear some straight answers, real plans and new ideas. It's not too likely they'll hear anything radical or different in Denver.
For political junkies, the quadrennial political conventions are fun, necessary, invigorating and enlightening. It's cool to see the players in a different setting. But the conventions are also very serious business. The country's future is being debated, to be decided in November. A new president chooses 3,000 executives to run the government. How trillions of dollars are spent is at stake.
In the TV age, conventions are supposed to be both entertaining and solemn. Balloons and cheering crowds are mixed with talk of war and the souring economy and proposed solutions to the grimmest of social problems. Newcomers are introduced and weighed. Obama made his first appearance on the scene just four years ago.
The party adopts a platform that spells out its principles, often a controversial process. There will be talk of abortion, gays, guns and God. And all the other social problems that get Americans' juices flowing.
Hundreds of reporters will weigh each nuance, examine each phrase, and judge each speaker. And they'll be worried (with so many journalism jobs going down the tubes). What if the whole thing really is boring?
But whether it is or is not, it will then be on to Minneapolis and the Republicans, and the process will start all over again.
— Ann McFeatters has covered the White House and national politics since 1986. Contact her at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com.
Posted by allblacks on August 25, 2008 at 2:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/...
Not even Obama's running mate is sure who should be President.
Posted by ken10 on August 25, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Techuser: Congratulations on being the lowest IQ poster around.
Posted by ken10 on August 25, 2008 at 5:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Fact: Earn less than 250,000 and have health insurance provided by your employer? Under McCain you will PAY HIGHER TAXES than under Obama.
McCain wants to tax those health insurance benefits as normal income.
Posted by ken10 on August 25, 2008 at 5:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
One more thing for the mental midgets. Oil companies always lower prices before elections so as to help Republicans.
Posted by retired_chief on August 25, 2008 at 6:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In usual jw fashion he can't come up with a reply to the posted link so he attacks the nearest opposition. At least Biden isn't senile? Nice reasoning.
Posted by ken10 on August 25, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Techuser: Classic idiot!
Posted by NowHearThis on August 25, 2008 at 9:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If Jw is as smart as he thinks he is, he would understand that McCain doesn't know the number of houses owns because, the moneybags in that family is the wife Cindy. McCain is restricted by law to NOT know or deal with his wife's finances. He is NOT entitled to any of her riches. But a leftist-liberal Demon-cat don't know facts, they just spout off vitriolic and basic untrue comments with just about any topic.
And, besides, Obama got his house through hook and crook.
Hey folks, instead of bashing McCain, why don't you educate yourselves on how corrupt the political machine in Chicago is; one where Obama was bred in. At the same time, research Black Liberation Theology's racist and angry mantra.
I doubt a leftist-liberal will learn the true facts about a Prez candidate who has done very little in his life except hang out with questionable characters.
A leftist-liberal just reads fiction, because that's what they are all about.
Obama bin Biden: I DON'T THINK SO.
Posted by NowHearThis on August 25, 2008 at 9:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
kEN, WHERE do you get your info that oil companies lower gas prices before elections to help the GOP.
I hear lots of stupidity coming from a leftist-liberal DEM, but your comment comes close to taking the cake.
And Ken, if you go to Obama's website, you'd see how much this guy wants to spend on social (marxist) programs. It's estimated at 1.3 trillion dollars. You can bet taxes will be raised by a Democratic congress to pay for Obama's thirst to spend taxpayers' money.
Posted by ken10 on August 25, 2008 at 10:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Classic stupidity from right wing loons AS USUAL. Totally clueless and delusional about what is going on in the world.
Posted by ken10 on August 25, 2008 at 10:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
NowHearThis: McCain is MARRIED to Cindy. There IS NO LAW that restricts him from sharing in his wifes finances. Quit drinking Kool-Aid and listening to the drug addict Limbaugh.
Posted by mikeb6804 on August 25, 2008 at 11:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
jw/ken clone --- have your ever heard of separate property or pre-nuptial agreements. I thought not, you imbecile(s).
Posted by mikeb6804 on August 26, 2008 at 7:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
MJ jw--wrong answer, idiot.
Posted by ken10 on August 26, 2008 at 8:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
FACT: McCain REFUSES to release his Navy FitReps? What does he have to hide?
Posted by mikeb6804 on August 26, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
jw--go play with yourself. I'm done. Can't argue with a stump.
Posted by Scapegoat on August 26, 2008 at 12:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
jw, what a DIMocrat you are. It is common knowledge that John and Cindy have a pre-nep. They keep their finances pretty much separate. Common knowledge everyone knows this except: jw/ken/jw1000/ken10, and any current and/or future monikers said jw will use in the future. Monikers easily distinguished by the use of the words "nutjob", "kool-aid", "loon" and "go back".
Posted by Scapegoat on August 26, 2008 at 3:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
OK I'm wrong.
The FIRST bit of truth from jw/ken EVER! LOL!
Posted by Scapegoat on August 26, 2008 at 3:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Not that you would know jw/ken, but for the super rich, prenupt's are the rule, not the exception.
Posted by nelsonknows on August 26, 2008 at 9:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow! for once jw/ken isn't humping MY leg. Notice ken/jw has never posting anything to back up his/her posts yet when one of us posts a link from the Library of Congress, jw/ken and all leftists, for that refuse to even read them? No wonder they support a racist, marxist candidate with no substance.
Will Rogers once said;
"Ignorance is the absence of fact, Stupidity is the refusal to look at fact".
It's just pathetic that idiots like jw/ken are allowed to vote.
(Requires free registration.)
Article discussions on this site are to support community debates of issues related to our stories and editorials.
Discussions should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial.
We do not allow the following:
We reserve the right to delete threads and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary.
Opinions are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.