The DNC drifts into history

An analysis of its grand themes

The fourth night of the Democratic national convention was a profoundly historic day for the United States. But as one of the two major political parties officially nominated an African-American to be its presidential candidate, on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, hardly a word was said to acknowledge it. Here, there or anywhere it seemed.

In fact, a political novice may never have realized the historical significance of the week simply from watching the major speeches on television. In many ways, it's as though those in the know made a collective judgment, taking their cues from the Obama campaign, to only allude to the convergence of history and history in the making. And in fact, it very well may be that words really weren't needed for most Americans--that in the end, we actually all know all too well the long trajectory that got us to this moment, even if many never want to acknowledge it.

Maybe, or maybe not. It's highly possible the speakers were bursting at the seams to talk about Martin Luther King Jr., but were held hostage to the Obama message through a dependence on teleprompters.

Because one thing is clear--the Democrats were on point, with prominent themes weaving their way through the major speeches over the course of the four nights of the Democratic National Convention. As the convention began on Monday night they began to emerge, with each speaker picking up the thread and weaving the message a little tighter. And when Barack Obama accepted the nomination on Thursday night he drove the central message home:

The "American dream" has been imperiled by the Bush administration's gross mismanagement, and John McCain will simply be a continuance of the highly destructive Bush years.

In the narrative of this convention, it was class, not race, that received the attention. Beginning with Michelle Obama Monday night, time and again speakers told their personal stories of growing up in working class or poor households, describing the hard work and sacrifice that their parents made so that they could go to college and become middle class.

This should be every American's birthright, the Democrats said, but it's sadly out of reach these days under the auspices of a government that doesn't bother to offer a hand. In the Democratic Party's version of the American Dream, opportunity is ensured when a society works together to make it happen. Speakers contrasted this with the "trickle down economics" of the Republicans, with Obama putting it most bluntly in his closing speech:

For over two decades, he's [McCain] subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.

In this way, Obama turned the bootstraps mythology upside down: yes, individual initiative is what it's all about it, but you gotta have boots before you can fiddle with those bootstraps.

Not that the challenges of a broken economy, a nation at war, a threatened "American promise" is "all of government's making," Obama said, "but the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush."

Time and again, Obama returned to the theme of "American promise," and its dependence on responsibility, both individual and mutual.

That's the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper.

Next to "American promise," the fact that McCain had voted for George Bush 90 percent of the time may have been the next most often repeated statement.

While John McCain is a "good man" who served his country with enormous distinction, Democrats repeatedly affirmed, he offers only more of the failed Bush years, proven by the fact that he's voted with Bush 90 percent of the time.

The "Bush-McCain foreign policy" had "squandered" the American legacy, Obama said. And Obama had strong words for McCain on national security, contrasting his own early disagreement with the Iraq war to what he characterizes as McCain's continued belief in it. The terrorists are in Afghanistan, Obama said, not Iraq. One of his catchiest lines was that while McCain says he'll chase bin Laden to the gates of hell, in fact he won't even chase him to his cave.

Plus, Democrats say, McCain's a wealthy man who is out of touch with what it means to be middle class in America, much less the working class. It's not that he doesn't care, Obama said, it's that he doesn't get it. McCain was squarely painted as someone who would continue the Bush legacy, as Democrats rolled out a litany of issues near and dear to Democratic hearts.

One of those issues was climate change. The problem of climate change received prominent attention, but despite Al Gore's highlighted speech Thursday night was mostly talked about in the context of the "new energy economy," which surfaced time and again as the days wore on.

In this narrative, three major ills share the same solution: the greening of America will solve climate change, provide good paying jobs, and solve our energy woes. It's almost a utopian vision--at the very least a very hopeful and aspiring one. Obama wrapped this analysis up by intertwining the promise of jobs with the saving of the environment:

As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. 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. And I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy - wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.

As Obama closed out his speech last night, he finally acknowledged the historic nature of the day and his own difference--“I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don’t fit the typical pedigree," he said--without ever actually saying Martin Luther King's name.

Rather, he connected the dots with his central message. It's the American promise, he said, that brought all those Americans to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington 45 years ago to hear "a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream."

All in all, the week was grand political theater, as a friend couldn't help but point out. And the theater doesn't stop--the Republicans pick it up Monday.

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