Posted on Thu, Aug. 28, 2008
Barack Obama has a tough act to follow in Denver tonight: his own performance of four years ago.
At the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Obama was a newcomer who electrified the audience with his keynote address. That rousing speech about unity helped bring him to this moment.
Tonight, as Obama accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for president, he will also make history. On the 45th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Obama becomes the first African American nominated by a major party for president. As running mate Joe Biden once said, that's "storybook."
But Obama needs to do more than dazzle tonight. Voters need a better understanding of how he would lead the country.
Certainly, Obama's campaign has laid out detailed policy initiatives, on everything from the Iraq war to energy to health care. And his marathon primary contest against Hillary Clinton gave voters across the country an opportunity to learn more about Obama the man.
Still, there's a lingering concern among Democrats that some voters don't really know Obama yet. Gov. Rendell said this week that Obama was "not exactly the easiest guy in the world to identify with," essentially because he's good-looking and brainy.
Rendell's comments were less than artful, but they highlight a challenge that would confront anyone who would be president now. Obama still hasn't connected with enough working-class voters concerned about the economy, the kind of voters who supported Clinton in Pennsylvania's primary.
Obama has excelled at promoting broad themes - hope, opportunity, bipartisanship, global respect. But voters need a better explanation of how his administration would help people hang on to their jobs and their homes, while consumer prices soar and good-paying jobs vanish. Voters want assurances that the next president will make "kitchen table" issues his priority.
These acceptance speeches rarely focus on the bad news ahead for the next president. So we're not likely to hear Obama - or John McCain at the GOP convention next week in the Twin Cities - talk about saving Social Security with higher payroll taxes or with benefits cuts.
Still, it would be refreshing to hear either candidate discuss candidly the tough economic choices the next president will face. Federal deficits are still out of control, and the national debt has risen in the last eight years from $5.6 trillion to $9.6 trillion. The higher it rises, the fewer jobs are likely to be created. And the cost of borrowing goes up for everyone, making it more expensive to pay for cars, college tuition, houses.
Both candidates need to assure Americans that they take seriously the link between lower debt and a healthier economy. Promising to pay for everything in this deficit-heavy climate isn't leadership. A little dose of fiscal reality would be reassuring.
The last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, faced similar challenges of party unity and voter doubts in 1992. He managed to come out of that convention in New York with momentum. Obama's challenge tonight is to make himself better known to undecided voters, and to set his priorities for families living paycheck to dwindling paycheck.
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