Obama spells out exactly what he'd do as president

JUST ONE DAY after making history as the first black major-party nominee for president, Barack Obama made his case last night for why his remarkable odyssey shouldn't stop until he reaches the White House.

In the final juggling act of a week on the political high wire in Denver, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worked to balance the noise and pageantry of more than 80,000 Democrats at pro football's Invesco Field with the down-to-earth specifics that he's been accused of lacking.

Obama embarked on a mission to "spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am president." His laundry list included tax cuts for the middle class and a Kennedy-esque pledge to end U.S. dependency on foreign oil in 10 years.

In his 42-minute speech, Obama also tackled the Republicans' harshest criticisms - over his patriotism and that he's "a celebrity" - and grew most animated when he argued his credentials to serve as commander in chief.

And when he was done, as fireworks exploded behind him and as he hoisted his 7-year-old daughter Sasha, the country song "Only in America" by Brooks and Dunn blared, the kind of cultural touchstone that the GOP seeks to claim as its own.

"America, we are better than these last eight years," Obama said in his speech, sharply criticizing the Bush administration as he tied it to the campaign of his GOP rival, John McCain. "We are a better country than this."

He also said, in what may become the buzzword of the much-anticipated address: "This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive."

Obama - born four years before the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act ended the laws that barred many African-Americans from casting ballots - had little time to savor his accomplishment as the country's first black nominee.

After leaping into history, he was expected to somehow land in the giant shoes of John F. Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt - the last two candidates to accept their nominations at large outdoor rallies, in 1960 and 1936, respectively - and even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who delivered his immortal "I Have a Dream" speech on the same date 45 years earlier.

Indeed, his campaign's decision, made a number of weeks ago, to deliver the speech in the hulking home of the Denver Broncos became the subject of intense speculation and controversy as the four-day Democratic confab dragged on.

Republicans have sought to portray Obama as a narcissistic "celebrity" with little substance, and they cited last night's event - which included musical performances by the likes of Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow - as proof.

The huge stadium throng, which waited hours in the Colorado heat for Obama to speak, added a layer of enthusiasm and color to an event that already was politically charged.

James Hilty, the Temple University presidential scholar and an authority on JFK, who accepted the 1960 Democratic nod at the giant L.A. Memorial Coliseum, said that "presidential nominees have to fill their own shoes."

He noted that Kennedy faced similar complaints from his party's own Harry Truman, who said the Massachusetts senator was too young to be president.

The challenge last night for Obama, according to Hilty, was to create a simple motto or slogan along the lines of FDR's New Deal that would create a brand name to help voters understand the policy changes that he seeks. "I'm looking for Obama to offer a mantra or a symbol, a connection that will easily identify his sense of hope," he said.

The speech came amid early signs that Obama is getting a bounce in the polls from the Denver convention, especially after two nights of mostly well-received endorsement speeches by Oba-ma's chief primary-elections rival, Hillary Clinton, and then by ex-president Clinton.

The Gallup daily tracking poll released yesterday - which includes voters surveyed over the first two nights of the convention - showed that Obama is now leading McCain by 6 percentage points, 48-42, after trailing by 2 points at the start of the week.

Obama's challenge last night was to deliver the same type of uplifting message that drew so many young volunteers and small donors to his campaign, to also back up that message of hope with more specifics, and at the same time to come off as combative - after a series of presidential races when the Democrats seemed defensive instead.

Even before Obama took the stage, some conservative pundits were questioning the sharp tone of the excerpts that leaked out early.

"In the last eight years we've done some incredible things - men and women of our country have done some incredible things," wrote Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review Online. "Let's not make partisanship turn into American-bashing, my friends . . . . "

But Obama used last night's speech as an opportunity to lay out more specifics than he did in some of his other closely watched addresses.

Obama said that if he is elected, his plan would cut taxes "for 95 percent of working families" and that he would eliminate capital- gains taxes on small companies and start-ups. He also sought to put a little more meat on his energy policy, which is shaping up as a key issue for the fall.

"As president, I will tap our natural-gas reserves, invest in clean- coal technology and find ways to safely harness nuclear power," he said. "I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars."

Some of his most passionate lines came on the issues of patriotism and on removing cynicism from American politics.

"The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together, and bled together, and some died together under the same proud flag," he said. "They have not served a red America or a blue America; they have served the United States of America."

As the crowd roared, Obama added: "So I've got news for you, John McCain: We all put our country first." *