DENVER, August 26, 2008
Passing The Torch, Over Clinton
CBSNews.com Analysis: The First Night Of The Convention Was About One Thing, And It Wasn't Division, Writes Vaughn Ververs
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Play CBS Video Video Ted Kennedy Thrills DNC Senator Ted Kennedy is battling brain cancer but made a surprise appearance at the DNC to express his support for Barack Obama.
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Video 'Sweet' Caroline At The DNC Arriving to the song "Sweet Caroline," Caroline Kennedy paid tribute to her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and Sen. Barack Obama. Caroline said that Obama inspires her the way her father inspired many.
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Video Obama Says 'Hello' At DNC "CBS News RAW": Barack Obama gave a quick "hello" from Kansas City after his wife, Michelle, spoke at the DNC. Obama said his persevering courtship of Michelle showed that he's a "persistent president."
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Symbolically handing over a mantle that stretches 40 years, Sen. Edward Kennedy said, “This November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. So with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.” (AP)
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Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. (AP)
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Photo Essay Assembling In Denver The Mile-High City hosts the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
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Interactive Campaign 2008 Profiles of the candidates, polls, fund-raising, blogs, video and more.
A Democratic Party that came to Denver with questions of division looming did its best to put forward a show of unity on the first day of its nominating convention. It was a night about defining Barack Obama, and Democrats made sure to stay on message.
The theme of the night was, “One Nation,” but it may as well have been, “One Party.” The focus was stuck on the candidate who will formally accept the nomination on Thursday, and pointedly not on the adversary he fought off and whose presence is still the talk of the convention.
Party leaders past and present paraded across the stage on Monday, interspersed with average Americans, friends and family, all of whom sought to introduce Obama to a nation of voters who still seem unfamiliar with him. There was former President Jimmy Carter, who appeared briefly on stage to wave to the crowd. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed the audience as well as Obama’s sister and a parade of Illinois politicians.
Obama's wife, Michelle, delivered a heartfelt speech that focused on her life story and his, delving into hardships and triumphs the couple have faced. She delivered testimony designed to drive home the dominant point the campaign is looking to deliver in Denver - that Barack Obama is just like you. (Michelle Obama's Speech: Video | Text)
“In the end, after all that's happened these past 19 months, the Barack Obama I know today is the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago,” Michelle told a national television audience. “He's the same man who drove me and our new baby daughter home from the hospital ten years ago this summer, inching along at a snail's pace, peering anxiously at us in the rearview mirror, feeling the whole weight of her future in his hands, determined to give her everything he'd struggled so hard for himself, determined to give her what he never had: the affirming embrace of a father's love.”
But if Michelle gave the personal story, it was Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy’s surprise appearance on stage that proved to be the most emotional, and symbolic, moment. Battling brain cancer, Kennedy almost didn’t make it to Denver, let alone the stage. The convention floor broke into thunderous cheers when he appeared, introduced by the last direct link to the days of Camelot, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg. (Ted Kennedy's Speech: Video | Text)
Symbolically handing over a mantle that stretches 40 years, Kennedy said, “This November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. So with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.”
Conspicuously missing was the politician who narrowly missed making this her convention and whose supporters continue to stoke stories of division. Even on the morning of the convention’s kick-off, the stories that dominated the news were about tensions between Obama and Hillary Clinton’s camp over her role - and that of her husband - in Denver.
The fact that the line of Democratic leadership, from Kennedy to Carter to Pelosi, was paraded across the stage without the Clintons said volumes about what the campaign wanted Monday night. For a year and a half, Obama’s name has been intertwined with Clinton's. Tonight, the separation was clear and purposeful.
The Clintons will have their moments in the spotlight in Denver. Hillary Clinton will speak Tuesday night and former President Bill Clinton appears on Wednesday. There are signs that a protracted roll call vote might be avoided and that a fractious floor demonstration will never happen.
But Monday night was for declaring Obama the new face of the Democratic Party, a party he will now lead, at least into November - if not longer.
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More From Politics
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- Have not fear Hillary Obama will only serve one term. You are going to be our Candidate in 2012. Time to get busy & start working on it. CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE
- Reply to this comment
- Obscamma doesn''''t have a chance! Nobody''''s buying his far left Marxist campaign.
Posted by WellHell3
I truly hope you are right! - Reply to this comment
- From the Rasmussen Reports:
Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 Email to a FriendAdvertisement
The Democratic National Convention has begun and the poll numbers are bouncing, but not in the direction that most people anticipated.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows Barack Obama attracting 44% of the vote while John McCain also earns 44%. When "leaners" are included, it%u2019s still tied with Obama at 46% and McCain at 46%. Yesterday, with leaners, Obama had a three-point advantage over McCain (see recent daily results). Tracking Polls are released at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time each day. Sign up for free daily e-mail update.
Obama is supported by 78% of Democrats while McCain gets the vote from 85% of Republicans. The GOP hopeful also has a slight advantage among unaffiliated voters. - Reply to this comment
- The Clintons dont own this nation. if they screw this thing up they should know that their political life is screwed up.
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Posted by chuegevera at 08:49 PM : Aug 26, 2008
They don''t have to. Obscammer did it all by himself with his campaign scams. He left no loophole left for party UNITY! Too bad he NEVER practices what he preaches. It''s all Obscammer or nothing! Egotistical bastward. - Reply to this comment
- For whatever reason, self-identified conservative voters did overwhelmingly support Clinton %u2013 two out of three cast their votes for the New York senator.
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Posted by omega39 at 06:46 PM : Aug 26, 2008
What the hell is that supposed to mean? My son and his in-laws all voted for Hillary, and they are ALL staunch republicans, very very stanch republicans!!! His faither-in-law is local government, runs on a republican ticket...but they all crossed over because her plans were so right-on!
And then they laughed like trolls when Obscamma picked them up and applied his Marxist whack job ideas to them! Now they''ll go ahead a vote McCain.
You people have no clue how well Clinton''s administration was run to the benefit of everybody! And how well their administration went across the aisle for the best compromises.
Obscamma doesn''t have a chance! Nobody''s buying his far left Marxist campaign. - Reply to this comment
- McCain lost to Bush. By definition his plan is worst than that of Bush.
- Reply to this comment
- The Clintons dont own this nation. if they screw this thing up they should know that their political life is screwed up.
- Reply to this comment
- If bush is different than mccain, please tell me the differences in their economic plans? Please tell me the differences in foreign policy?
Posted by zerato
Differences that matter are the backround and frame of reference. McCain will have a different person as vice-president and the cabinet will be all different. How each problem is looked at and handled will different. Just belonging to the same political party does not mean they will govern the same. Cetainly, this would be true of Obama and Hillary. Otherwise, it wouln''t matter who got elected. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by rhs648 at 07:23 PM : Aug 26, 2008
If bush is different than mccain, please tell me the differences in their economic plans? Please tell me the differences in foreign policy? - Reply to this comment
- rhs648, you have a valid point about what 3rd party candidates can do to an election for president. However, your statement that the media is trying to keep this close, please. They have been shoving Obama down our throats for well over a year.
Posted by robstrck
Hi robstrck. This wan''t my comment. It was posted by someone else. - Reply to this comment
- Kennedy was awesome and so was Michelle O! Go Democrats! Good riddance to that creepy Bush idiot. --
Posted by strandc
Some remarks are more stupid than others and yours takes the cake. McCain is no more like Bush than Hillary is like Obama. Time to grow up and gain some wisdom. - Reply to this comment
- I guess the question should really be: What excuse are the Obama supporters going to come up with when he loses? Hanging chads? Rigged voting machines? Blame Hillary? Hillary could have easily beaten McCain. We lost our best chance at retaking the white house when Obama became our candidate. Maybe Hillary can run as an independent in 2012. A lot of voters would go for that.
- Reply to this comment
- Kennedy was awesome and so was Michelle O! Go Democrats! Good riddance to that creepy Bush idiot.
- Reply to this comment
- Oh bull spit! You act like any pays the hell attention to Rush Limpdrug and his rantings?
But it''''s a good excuse to trot out there isn''''t it!
Posted by WellHell3
Uhn huh...
(CNN) %u2013 How big of an impact did Rush Limbaugh%u2019s %u2018Operation Chaos%u2019 have in Indiana? Did GOP voters really cross over to create havoc in the Democratic primary by voting for Hillary Clinton, as he%u2019d asked his listeners to do?
Roughly one in ten of the state%u2019s Democratic primary voters were Republican %u2014 and that group did vote for Hillary Clinton, 53 to 47 percent over Barack Obama. But hold on: registered Democrats, who made up two-thirds of Tuesday%u2019s primary voters, gave roughly the same edge to Clinton, 53 to 45 percent. Only Independents %u2014 who made up about a quarter of the electorate %u2014 voted for Obama, 53 to 47 percent.
For whatever reason, self-identified conservative voters did overwhelmingly support Clinton %u2013 two out of three cast their votes for the New York senator. - Reply to this comment
- rhs648, you have a valid point about what 3rd party candidates can do to an election for president. However, your statement that the media is trying to keep this close, please. They have been shoving Obama down our throats for well over a year.
- Reply to this comment
- How many tens of thousands if not millions were operation chaos operatives voting for Hillary in the primaries?
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Posted by omega39 at 06:10 PM : Aug 26, 2008
Oh bull spit! You act like any pays the hell attention to Rush Limpdrug and his rantings?
But it''s a good excuse to trot out there isn''t it!
Instead of admitting that you have presented the most incompetent, far leftist whack job candidate ever and people are NOT going to vote for him!
So he had activist out in a bunch of caucus states, whose voting scams don''t even make sense half time! So he''s a good scammer! That doesn''t make him qualified to be president! It makes him a consciousless scam artist! - Reply to this comment
- HILLARY HAD OVER 100,000 MORE VOTES IN THE PRIMARIES
THAN OBAMA HAD.
-RealClearPolitics.com
Posted by ForeverTru
How many tens of thousands if not millions were operation chaos operatives voting for Hillary in the primaries? - Reply to this comment
Give us a break! Why is it always necessary to tinker with the facts. Next, you will tell us that McCain wears the wrong color ties or owns the wrong type of pet thus putting him behind Obama in the presidential race. Oops, is race as used in this post racist?
Posted by rhs648
It''s true, check out the most recent WP/ABC poll, the others are omitting the 3rd party candidates and forcing people to choose between the 2.- Reply to this comment
- HILLARY HAD OVER 100,000 MORE VOTES IN THE PRIMARIES
THAN OBAMA HAD.
-RealClearPolitics.com - Reply to this comment
- Never was a fan of this Kennedy.
I stand now, in awe. - Reply to this comment
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