Sunleye-Solawumi Olaleye
30 August 2008
opinion
Lagos — The times are too serious, the stakes are too high, now is not the time for small plans It was indeed vintage Obama early morning yesterday, inside Denver's Invesco Field Stadium during the closing stages of the Democratic National Convention. And if the idea to make the day run in sync with the 45-year anniversary of the famous Martin Luther King "I Have a Dream" speech, in order to kill a flying political bird, the day; and Barack Obama, just did a whole load more than that. It brought down an albatross from its cruising flight.
And given the kind of headless chicken reaction of the rival party, the Republican, less than 24 hours after - in their choosing of a running mate for their lead man, John McCain - the Democratic week certainly looks, now with the benefit of hindsight, more like an apt political deus es machina.
After last week, if ever there were any purses of Democrats that were still fence-standing and undecided over the electability of Obama despite the veritable Obama-mania that had been sweeping over United States and threatening to bowl the whole world over, they must have been made to have a positive change of heart by now. The Democratic candidate not only lived to his oratorical billing but also managed to introduce a whole new direction to the art of American politicking - it is no longer, according to him about personal matters, credentials and even the two candidates, but about issues and the electorates.
To drive the new 'Politics America' that he was trying to push to the front burner of soap-box activities home, he went on, at the tail-end of his inspirational speech, which had emotions running free in its very end, to let it be known that although he was all for an open debate with his rival for the ticket to the White House, McCain, but he would not be doing it if it had to do with engaging in the old type dialectics.
He said in having that kind of debate: "What I will not do is suggest that the senator (McCain) takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism. The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America, they have served the United States of America."
Asking for a change in the politics of the past, he said to the electorate: "For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past."
Obama earlier in that speech had gone on to show he would not be the type for the politics that party partisanship divides. And he proved his new line believe before later going on to enumerate it, when he praised the credentials of his Republican rival for the ticket.
He said: "Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that, we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need."
But then Obama would go on in a situation of apt Mark Anthony-esque oratory, go on to rub it in on why the kind of change that McCain could be trusted to deliver, can only be the half-baked one that does not go through the whole hog or encompass the whole gamut of it.
"But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.
"The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives, on health care and education and the economy, Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made 'great progress' under this president. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisers, the man who wrote his economic plan, was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a 'mental recession,' and that we've become, and I quote, 'a nation of whiners.'
"Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than 100 million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement? It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it."
Perhaps the above is the reason why most of the crowd at the Invesco Field Stadium became so emotional at the end of the night. Because, not only in America, but particularly in Africa and most Third World countries, the biggest let down of leaders to their citizens had always been in the area of being in touch.
Most leaders in the Third World had always been so much in lack of sync with the realities on the ground in their countries that they had often lost touch completely with the lower and middle classes. No example of that beats the recent one in Nigeria when a serving president said no Nigerian was living on one dollar a day.
Calculated at the time the president said that, one dollar converted to N120. But at that time and up till present day, many Nigerians do not have up to the average of N120 a day to spend on food; an amount that translated to N3,600 a month. And this is not to remember a leader that once said no Nigerian was picking from the dustbin yet, to eat when at that time, hordes were already scavenging food in the dustbins of rich men in order to survive.
It is this kind of being disjoint with the society by past leaders, and the promise that he is one with the lower and middle class Americans that is making the electorate to feel they may have found a kind of saviour in Obama.
And if 45 years ago, a legend came to declare there was a dream that he had for America, and today, the dream is being lived in America, not only by Americans, but by other citizens of the world, then it could be that one of the product of that dream, seeing that it is time for there to be a change and for the future of America to be newly seeded, then maybe 'Enough' could just become the new 'I have a Dream' in the future of America.
Federal charges filed against trio in alleged Obama threats
Federal charges were filed Tuesday against three men who allegedly talked of killing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
None of the charges concerned threats against Obama, and U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid stressed that the three never posed a serious danger to the Illinois senator.
"A bunch of meth heads put together; I don't know what they do," Eid said at a news conference with about 50 reporters from around the world. "There is no credible threat right now, and there was no credible threat."
The three men face charges that include possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of body armor by a violent felon, possession of methamphetamine, and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
The three are Shawn Robert Adolf, 33; Tharin Robert Gartrell, 28; and Nathan Dwaine Johnson, 32.
Adolf talked of killing Obama in Denver and during his "inauguration," according to the criminal complaint. It was unclear if "inauguration" referred to Obama's planned acceptance speech for the nomination at Invesco Field on Thursday.
According to the complaint, the three men reportedly referred to Obama with a racial epithet and said that such a person should never live in the White House. They "could not believe how close he (Obama) was to becoming president."
Authorities said the alleged conversation took place at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center - Denver, where Johnson had a room, and the three thought Obama had a room there, too.
Eid said investigators were still looking into whether the men are connected to a white supremacist group.
The Democratic Party Convention in Denver, Colorado
1. Barack Obama has formally accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for presidential candidate, making him the first African-American to be chosen for the role by a major US party
2. He made a wide-ranging speech that covered everything from tax relief and affordable health care to education and foreign policy. It had a clear effect on many in the 75,000-plus audience
3. Former Vice-President Al Gore also gave a speech, encouraging Americans to vote for Barack Obama because he represents "the best of America".
4. Democrats were looking for Mr Obama to cement his standing within the party and reach out to those voters who are not convinced by his message, say correspondents.
5. Da-Convention: The Democratic National Convention was in celebratory mood as Barack Obama was officially nominated their presidential candidate
HilaryTalk: Hillary Clinton played a key role in calling for her former rival to be nominated by acclamation
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