The Democratic National Convention

Usually sitting around the TV with your kids is not a matter of National pride, but that was not the case this week.
We had a great thrill watching first New Mexico yield to Illinois, and then Illinois yield to New York. New York went through all their introductions and finished with Senator Hilary Clinton reequesting the convention to nominate Barak Obama for the Democratic candidate for President of the United States.

My eyes welled up along with many other viewers when a tearful African American woman was interviewed immediately afterward, and when asked why she was crying, she said that she was crying for her father. Her father grew up with segregation-white water fountains, colored only bathrooms...and she wished that her father, suffering advanced Alzheimer's, could be aware enough to celebrate the fact that finally skin color didn't matter-it was the best candidate that received the nomination.

Last night we watched Barak Obama give his acceptance speech, while his beautiful family and vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, along with 34 million television viewers and 84,000 Democrats in attendence cheered him on.

I thought that Mr. Obama spoke very elegantly, and his motto for change is a strong one. I was a bit disappointed that his focus seemed to be on what McCain will or won't do for the country, not specifics of what he himself would do, or rather how he would achieve his goals.

Obama did commit to spending 180 billion dollars over the next 8 years on developing alternative energy, including wind and alternative fuels. That was a bit of a relief for this Green, as he initally stated reducing our dependence on foreign oil would be achieved by focusing on Natural Gas, clean coal, and nuclear power. He also stated that we weren't going to be able to drill our way free...a bit clarification on his supporting offshore drilling.

All the other good things were there as well-better treatment for veterans; better education for our children; affordable health care; reducing taxes for 95% of the taxpayers (middle class); ending the Iraq war. He did some posturing in regards to chasing Osama Bin Laden down in his Afghan cave and some grumbling about Russia.

I look forward to seeing the debates between Barak Obama and John McCain in the near future. There's been an awful lot of mud slinging so far-it will be interesting to see what they say to each other's face.