Kos wrote:
When was the last time we saw a speech like tonight's -- a full-throated defense of progressive principles, devoid of mushy "centrist" crap? It didn't avoid the tough social issues like abortion, guns, or gay marriage. . . . It drew sharp distinctions between Democrats and Republicans. It came from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.
How about this one?
Look at the example the Republicans have set. In this decade, American workers have consistently given us rising productivity. That means, year after year, they work harder and produce more. Now, what did they get in return? Declining wages, less than one-fourth as many new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising poverty, and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s.
American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining coverage. I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other serious conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn't afford health care and couldn't qualify their children for Medicaid unless they quit work and starved or got a divorce.
Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of? What about the military families pushed to the breaking point by multiple, multiple deployments? What about the assault on science and the defense of torture? What about the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the well-connected?
And what about Katrina and cronyism?
My fellow Democrats, America can do better than that. And Barack Obama will do better than that.
The choice is clear. The Republicans in a few days will nominate a good man who has served our country heroically and who suffered terribly in a Vietnamese prison camp. He loves his country every bit as much as we do. As a senator, he has shown his independence of right-wing orthodoxy on some very important issues.
But on the two great questions of this election -- how to rebuild the American dream and how to restore America's leadership in the world -- he still embraces the extreme philosophy that has defined his party for more than 25 years.
And it is, to be fair to all the Americans who aren't as hard- core Democrats as we, it's a philosophy the American people never actually had a chance to see in action fully until 2001, when the Republicans finally gained control of both the White House and the Congress.
Then we saw what would happen to America if the policies they had talked about for decades actually were implemented. And look what happened.
They took us from record surpluses to an exploding debt; from over 22 million new jobs to just 5 million; from increasing working families' incomes to nearly $7,500 a year to a decline of more than $2,000 a year; from almost 8 million Americans lifted out of poverty to more than 5.5 million driven into poverty; and millions more losing their health insurance.
Now, in spite of all this evidence, their candidate is actually promising more of the same. Think about it: more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy; more Band-Aids for health care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families, and increase the number of uninsured; more going it alone in the world, instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary to advance our security and restore our influence.
They actually want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them four more. Now, let's send them a message that will echo from the Rockies all across America, a simple message: Thanks, but no thanks.
The Barack Obama we saw last night practiced the Politics of Contrast. He followed the lead established by Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton. And in doing so, he recognized the moment, the opportunity. He argued for Democratic progressive policies against the conservative Republican policies and he labelled Bushism as Republicanism and conservatism. He made John McCain its standard bearer.
When I supported Barack Obama in the primaries, I did so because of the Media's love affair with him, as I believed that, on the issues I care about, there was not a dime's difference between Obama and Hillary Clinton. At the same time, I critiqued Obama's Post Partisan Unity Schtick, as not only bad for policy (no mandate), I thought it was bad politics. I urged the adoption of the Politics of Contrast.
Happily, Barack Obama did that last night. He learned the lesson. And in no small measure, it was Hillary Clinton's supporters who helped him to learn it. And of course, the man responsible for creating this political moment is George W. Bush. But no thanks for that.
By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only
