Obama makes history at Democratic National Convention

By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

Senator Barack Obama

One time rival Hilary Clinton led the charge of giving Obama the official Democratic nomination by calling a close to the roll call vote her supporters demanded and saying, “Let's declare together with one voice right here, right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president”.

While there had been much speculation by political commentators about a rift between Clinton and Obama supporters at the convention, the naming of the 47-year-old as head of the party’s ticket resulted in uproarious cheering, crying, hugging and declarations of party unity.

The Democratic congress representative from Georgia, John Lewis, said that the night’s proceedings were a “down payment on the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.”

 Lewis’ comment was a direct reference to the infamous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech by the late civil rights leader which stated that “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’”.  ~~Adz:Right~~

Another famous African-American politician, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, said that the residents of his city, both black and white, were overwhelmed with joy at the announcement, even as they evacuate the city in preparation for landfall of what will likely become Hurricane Gustav.

Following the nomination, former President Bill Clinton expressed his support for Obama by indicating that he would be able to restore the United States’ image around the world as a diplomatic and humanitarian country by “leading with the power of our example, not an example of our power”.

The line was followed by a thunderous chant of “yes we can” from the packed arena, after which President Clinton stated that Obama would be the president who led the United States to “a place called Hope,” –a reference to his own 1992 acceptance speech of the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

As the vice-presidential nominee, Senator Joe Biden, finished his acceptance speech Obama joined his running mate on stage, electrifying the crowd in his first appearance since the opening of the DNC at the start of the week.

Though the nomination was certainly a large step in resolving the history of racism in the United States, most Americans, including Obama, remain realistic about the event’s significance.

“I have never been so naive as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy -- particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own. But I have asserted a firm conviction… that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds,” the Illinois Senator said in his very popular ‘A More Perfect Union’ speech.

Obama will likely address the significance of his nomination when he takes the stage tonight (Aug. 28) at the DNC to formally accept. The speech will be delivered on the 45th anniversary of King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, which took place in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.