Economy & Trade, Headlines, North America

POLITICS-US: Democrats Vow to Unite and Conquer

Bankole Thompson

DENVER, Colorado, Aug 28 2008 (IPS) - With Sen. Barack Obama's formal anointing as the first African American presidential nominee of a major political party in U.S. history, delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver say Obama can win in November on universal issues like the economy and health care.

Since the beginning of his historic bid for the presidency, Obama, whose mother is a white woman from Kansas and whose father is from Kenya, has sought to run a campaign that transcends race.

U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, a delegate from the state of Kentucky, said Obama's biggest hurdle after the Denver nomination would be to "give a comfort level to a lot of people across the country who may not feel comfortable electing an African American for president."

That sentiment rings true in crucial battleground places like western Pennsylvania, where Sen. Hillary Clinton defeated Obama in the primary election.

"Racism is so strong and ingrained in Western Pennsylvania that he will need to convince voters that as much as they don't want to vote for him, they cannot afford to have another Republican administration," said 20 year-old Steve Lucas, one of Pennsylvania's youngest delegates. "A lot of people are going to make excuses because he is black and that would make it harder to get him elected."

Lucas said he is already campaigning among the blue-collar working-class people in that state to get them to realise that the stakes are too high in 2008.

"I'm telling people to support Obama because he has a real progressive message for change," Lucas told IPS. "He is inspiring."

Health care, gay rights and education are issues that matter to a lot of people in Pennsylvania, Lucas said.

Obama has demonstrated he's not afraid of being a liberal.

Patricia Tupacz Scribner, a 20-year United Auto Workers veteran and delegate from Michigan – which Republican presidential candidate John McCain has carried before – said voters in the Wolverine state should not be stuck on the candidate's race in this election.

"The average worker needs to know that they need to support Obama because we would not get anything from John McCain except hardship for most of us," Scribner said. "I hope our country is better than that. But I don't trust the Republicans. They would do anything to inject fear in people to not vote for Obama."

Michigan, which has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs in the recent economic downturn, is considered a "swing state", with no secure majority for either candidate. A recent WDIV/Detroit Free Press poll showed Obama leading with 46 percent, McCain with 39 percent and 12 percent undecided. About 31 percent of those polled indicated they could have a change of mind by Election Day.

"What we need to focus on as a country is on the issues and not race. All people are created equal," Scribner told IPS. "I'm upset that in this country we don't have healthcare for all. We have senior citizens who don't have health insurance, and that's a shame."

Issues like healthcare that Democrats have trumpeted in this presidential campaign could impact how some voters will cast their votes. An estimated 40 million U.S. citizens have no health insurance and the Democrats have lambasted the Republicans for rewarding insurance companies and the drug industry instead of insisting on an affordable health insurance for all. For voters like Scribner, that is the issue she believes Obama will tackle if he gets elected.

In Florida, which decided the 2000 presidential election by 537 votes and has a large Hispanic population, Democrats are focusing on registering new voters to take out the Republicans in that battleground state.

"I'm a strong supporter of Obama and a member of his national steering committee for Hispanics," said Luis Laredo, a Florida delegate. "We are very energised and excited and we're going to come out of Denver united."

Laredo said, "I know for a fact that there is no such thing as an easy election," but he'll work hard to ensure that Hispanics in that state cast their vote for Obama.

Pres. George w. Bush carried Florida in 2004, but Laredo said that Hispanics, a key voting bloc with leverage due to the recent immigration overhaul debate, will decide the election there.

"The GOP [Republican Party] are geniuses in negative campaigning, but we'll do everything we can to get Obama elected," Laredo said. "Race will always play [a role] in politics. But Obama as a nominee is a very good thing for America."

"Eminently qualified," is how Laredo describes Obama.

"I'm a conservative Democrat. I don't care what the colour of his skin is," he said.

Illinois Rep. Karen Yarbrough, who served with Obama when he was a state legislator, said what she's observed as a delegate to the convention is that people are coming together for Obama.

"This is not about black or white," Yarbrough said. "This is about green [money and the economy] more than anything else. We can't be scared about voting for him. I've seen him fight for people. He didn't just start here."

The Illinois legislator said Obama will bring about meaningful change at a time when economic woes are driving citizens from their homes, with escalating foreclosures.

Delegate D.A. Logan Dobbs from Nebraska said the state of the economy is perhaps the most important issue in November. A student of Hastings College, Dobbs said most college students are poised to vote for Obama. "Race is not an issue for us," Dobbs told IPS.

He cited the U.S. Basketball team, at the recently concluded Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, saying, "The team was all black. But they were representing America. No one said they were representing blacks."

Obama will accept the Democratic nomination at Denver's Invesco Field on Thursday night, the same day civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the didactic "I Have a Dream" speech 45 years ago in Washington.