Democrats Work for Unity as Hillary Clinton Takes Center Stage
At the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton electrified the audience as she gave a strong speech about unity and the need to elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States. Throughout her address she repeatedly mentioned the need to elect Barack Obama to the White House and warned that electing John McCain equated to another four years of “failed leadership” that Americans have suffered under for the last eight years.
The speech while powerful also hinted at a level of concern on the part of the Party that unification was still anything but guaranteed. While speaking, she also asked her supporters to ask themselves if the hard work they had done during her campaign had been simply for her or for the future of America. At several points the former First Lady and current Senator from New York was greeted by thunderous applause as the convention crowd reacted to the points she made.
Despite having numerous speakers prior to the arrival of Mrs. Clinton the crowd was visibly energized by her appearance. At the conclusion of the speech the pundits began analyzing and theorizing about the effectiveness of the speech. The reality of the effectiveness of her appearance and message of unity will likely not be known for sure until November as many former supporters remain undecided in the most recent polls. One thing was clear. The Democrats intend to come out of the convention swinging at John McCain and the message is that McCain equals more of the same while only Democrats represent real change in 2008.
The Republicans responded focusing on Barack Obama’s inexperience and how even the now supporters within the Democratic Party had said he was not experienced enough during the primaries. Rudy Giuliani was asked for comments on the speech and offered the following: "That's what the choice for a president comes down to. It doesn't come down to a choice between the abstract and the abstract; it comes down to a choice between two people," Giuliani said. "You can't avoid that comparison. You've got one with a lot of experience and one with virtually no experience."
With a little over two months to go before Election Day it seems that the campaign battle lines have been drawn and the battle will be between “Lack of Experience” and “More of the Same”. Only the voters can decide which will win the day.
Troy Wilson-Ripsom - Staff Writer | E-mail Comments on this article. | Click icon to Digg this article
Faith and Politics
When I was a kid two things never were discussed at family gatherings, faith and politics. It was widely understood that these were perhaps the most contentious of subjects and almost always certain to cause conflict to occur. For many years the two subjects were separate and unequal with no questions about which held greater sway for whom.
Today it seems that the two subjects that nobody used to talk about have become one and the only thing that some people will talk about. The pinnacle example of this was the “Faith Forum” held at Saddleback Church by Pastor Rick Warren with candidates Obama and McCain. This evangelical pandering fest was essentially a pass or fail test for the presidential candidates with the evangelical world. This faith test was also covered by CNN live and aired internationally.
At what point did evangelicals become the majority in America? If you watch the politicians this campaign season you would think that the whole nation is run by the religious right and everyone in politics knows that if they piss off the pastors there will be hell to pay come Election Day. Didn’t anyone ever tell them that churches were supposed to stay out of politics unless they want to lose their non-profit status? I guess that it’s fine that churches want to get involved in politics but if they want to get in the ring they need to pay the fees and drop their non-profit status.
It is actually about time churches started paying their share anyway. If nothing else the mega-churches across the country have proven the profitability of saving souls. They have opened churches that are essentially shopping malls for God and it’s time they kick some of the cash back to Uncle Sam I say. They are welcome in the political arena as long as they pay the cost of the ticket. By that standard though, they will also have to pony up at the state and local level. If you want to have a say in the system, you’ve got to help pay for the upkeep.
I suppose it’s not too bad that the churches want to get into the political scene. Maybe God can help balance the federal budget. He surely knows we could use the extra tax dollars in the coffers. With all the “faithful” leaders we’ve had over the last few years we're kind of broke.
The Realist - Patriot at Large | E-mail Comments on this article. | Click icon to Digg this article
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