Democrats' last ditch effort to unify the party to put Obama in White House
A.H. Jaffor Ullah
Unless you've been in Mars you may have noticed that the news media, Internet, TV channels are all abuzz with the news of Democratic Convention that is taking place in Denver, Colorado from August 25th through 28th. The convention delegates are all gathered here to energize the "base," which was fractured by a very divisive primary elections that took place starting from late January 2008 through the first week of June 2008.
The primaries in which Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fought tooth and nail to get enough delegates to win the nomination had created a chasm between Obama and Clinton supporters. Among the Democrats and Independents, a coalition of young college going students, educated and professionals, African Americans have overwhelmingly supported Senator Obama while a coalition of women, less educated White men, and Hispanics have thrown their support for Hillary Clinton.
In the last four decades, we have not seen such a hotly contested primaries in America in which the two candidates fought very hard to win the primaries. Normally, by Super Tuesday (the first Tuesday in February) when primaries are held in many states it becomes very clear who will be the nominee for Democratic Party. But not in 2008. During the prolong and brutal primary season both the Clinton and Obama campaigns hurled enough negativities to plant a seed of distrust in the minds of millions of supporters. Therefore, a wedge had developed between the two camps.
From June through August 2008, the bigwigs of the party tried to smooth out the differences that exist in the hearts and minds of both Barack and Hillary supporters so that in the Denver convention the party will not only be unified but energized at the same time. For, it is absolutely essential to have a united front to launch a vigorous campaign to elect the party's nominee on November 4, 2008. If there is a semblance of a divided party coming out of the convention, the Democrats could kiss goodbye to a possible win in November. Therefore, as the convention got underway, there were intense negotiations to cajole hostile delegates supporting Senator Clinton so that the "base" is unified and un-fractured.
On the second day of the convention, Senator Clinton gave an emotional speech in which she implored her supporters to stand behind Barack Obama so that the Party could recapture the White House and a fellow Democrat take charge of the nation in the last week of January 2009. The Clintons were jubilant on August 26, 2008. Bill Clinton who became a controversial politician during the primaries when he made some harsh remarks against Senator Obama was shown in the "Clinton Booth" smiling profusely and mingling with the delegates. Senator Clinton was introduced to the delegates by her daughter, Chelsea Clinton. And Mrs. Clinton delivered a fiery speech to energize the "base." She wholeheartedly supported the candidacy of Barack Obama when she gave the clarion call for electing the senator from Illinois. She called Obama "my candidate" and she added, "He must be our president." It was a passionate call to recapture the White House. She however profusely talked about herself and her campaign to energize her base but at the end of her speech she beseeched her supporters to join the campaign for a possible victory in the upcoming election.
President Bill Clinton also addressed the convention on the third day (August 27, 2008) and he also gave a conciliatory speech. Like Hillary Clinton, he also gave a call for unified "Base" without whose support Obama will not be able to defeat the Republican challenger, Senator John McCain.
It is worth mentioning here that Bill Clinton still has many followers especially among rural Democrats mostly men in Appalachian mountain region in the Midwest and northeast. To win such states as Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Obama needs the support of those less educated male voters. Thus, strengthening the "base" by a fiery and emotional speech from Bill Clinton had forged a united front.
We have noticed that McCain campaign had aired quite a few TV Ads directed towards Clinton supporters as the convention went underway. In the past, no Republican hopefuls had ever televised any political advertisement as democrats staged their convention. Therefore, it seems as if the election season will be hyper-charged and a nasty one.
Many Democrats now believe in the 'tit-for-tat' policy. When the Republicans would meet in Minneapolis in the first week of September 2008 to coronate John McCain as the party's flag-bearer, be sure about the negative TV Ads to hit the airwaves, which will be produced by the Obama campaign. The Democrats are learning very fast that to be a nice guy would mean a possible loss in the presidential contest.
In 1988, George H. W. Bush's campaign made some nasty negative Ads to undermine the Democratic candidate, Gov. Michael Dukakis. The most notable among them was the one in which Black inmates were paraded inside a penitentiary while the announcer said that Governor Dukakis had pardoned a convicted felon by the name Willy Horton, an African American, who committed a serious crime such as rape and murder. The bottom line of the Ad - Michael Dukakis was soft on crime. This utterly negative Ad did Dukakis in. Since then the Republicans resorted to negative campaign in each and every presidential race.
And this year is no exception. Senator McCain's campaign is now onto sticking a label on Obama. They contend that Obama is a narcissist celebrity of mega proportion. Thus, when Obama campaign decided to host the acceptance speech at INVESCO Stadium in the presence of about 80,000 screaming fans, which has never been done before, the Republican talking heads in the media including Karl Rove at the Fox news became very excited because now they could surely give a spin to Obama's historic acceptance speech to characterize the event as yet another publicity stunt for the "World Class Celebrity". The McCain campaign will pronounce that Obama being a narcissist only cares about him rather than the common people of America.
As I mentioned earlier, on August 27, the third day of the Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado, Bill Clinton gave an electrifying speech in which he endorsed Obama's candidacy in no uncertain term. Needless to say, both Hillary's and his speech had unified the "base" and tens and thousands of the energized foot soldiers of Democratic Party will now return to their hometowns all across America and do the needful to put their candidate in the White House.
The most successful convention in Denver was a stunning one as per all the analysts in CNN news. It was a fault-free and near-perfect convention with full of surprises. Contrary to the belief held by many Republican analysts, the Democrats have ironed out the differences between the two opposing camps of Clinton and Obama. The frictions which kept the two camps apart is now all but vanished into the thin air. Both Senator Clinton and President Clinton will hit the campaign trail in the next 90 days. This positive development in Denver will surely give John McCain and his associates a reason for concern. It remains to be seen how the Republicans conduct their affair in Minneapolis-St. Paul when they anoint John McCain to be their party's flag-bearer.
A post script. I was privileged to view the last day of the convention. The venue was INVESCO sports arena. Obama stood before a crowd of 80,000 to deliver a historic speech, which lasted more than 50 minutes and the attendees were spellbound. Many of the Hillary supporters were in tears hearing Obama's speech in which he said that he wants to unify the divided nation. Some political analysts in CNN has said that McCain will have difficulty matching the oration of Obama when the former will give the acceptance speech before few thousands cheering Republicans. In the history of America no presidential aspirants have addressed before 80,000 people. At long last, the Democrats are unified.
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Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA