Now is the time for Barack Obama, by gimleteye

I was impressed by the Democratic Party's performance at the Denver Convention. The proceedings were well organized, at least from the TIVO point of view. The key controversy, whether the Clinton-Obama rift could be mended, was answered directly with a minimum of ego and bombast. The injuries of Florida and Michigan primaries healed. Howard Dean stayed expertly to his role. Joe Biden was not long-winded. Michelle Obama was terrific. Barack Obama was direct and inspirational.

And there was Al Gore. Gore said that the past eight years of George W. Bush and the wrecking crew have made clearer to voters the tangled threads of national security, the economy, and the environment. There is a cautionary tale in this point.

In 2000, Gore had been dissuaded from making these same points, as energetically and urgently, because of advice from key campaign advisors, like Donna Brazile, and big donors from states like Florida, like Mitchell Berger and Chris Korge, that fed into his own uncertainty: how much truth can American voters bear?

I thought Obama hit all the right notes in his speech; it was uplifting and inspirational. Still, the most frequently used word was "promise", and for too many Americans today promise is a drifting target, a cruel horizon that moves away at the same rate you approach it.

Americans today need to hear more truth than promise.

What set me thinking on this point was the solo rendition by Michael McDonald of "America, the Beautiful" before Barack Obama came to the stage; played with intermittent harsh and discordant minor chords. The singer had it right; we live in harsh times discordant with the American Dream.

Without the benefit of hearing Obama's speech, the writer Rich Miller noted, "The U.S. is facing the worst financial crisis since the Depression. You would never know that from the Democrats' platform in Denver or its Republican counterpart, or from listening to Barack Obama or John McCain." ("Financial crisis is absent from agendas, parties", Bloomberg, August 27, 2008) Miller makes the crucial point.

I'm not sure a single keynote speaker during the Democratic Convention mentioned those two words, "Great Depression". Likely, they were deemed too discordant, too threatening, and too much truth.

The pillaging of the US economy, of rising threats to national security and the potential for climate chaos, are not blameless affairs; sprung from thin air. Nor are the real costs being incurred by taxpayers, totaling in the trillions of dollars at the same time millions of Americans are scrambling to afford heating their homes next winter. But it is not just Big Oil or Big Coal: those are easy targets. The whole system of toxic financial debt and the parties that benefited, creating a whole new class of wealth at the expense of the poor and middle class, needs to be brought into focus.

Last night, Barack Obama worked toward these points by highlighting his personal understanding, relationship to and compassion with the poor and middle class Americans. To win in November, Barack Obama must explain what hit them and who is responsible. He has to be the president who helps America emerge from such difficult straits by confronting the truth and not hesitate like Al Gore did, eight years ago.

There are only 64 days to go.