In a forward-looking speech that should open some skeptical hearts and minds at least here in the Commonwealth to the potential of the candidacy of Barack Obama, former Virginia Governor Mark Warner drew a very clear picture of what the stakes of this election are -- and indicated clearly that only one party in this country has the answers and the leaders that are needed to address our many challenges:
My fellow Democrats. My fellow Americans. The most important contest of our generation has begun.Not the campaign for the presidency. Not the campaign for Congress. But the race for the future. And I believe from the bottom of my heart with the right vision, the right leadership, and the energy and creativity of the American people, there is no nation that we can't out hustle or out compete. And no American need be left out or left behind.
Yes, the race for the future is on, and it won't be won if only some Americans are in the running. It won't be won with yesterday's ideas and yesterday's divisions. And it won't be won with a president who is stuck in the past.
We need a president who understands the world today, the future we seek, and the change we need. We need Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.
But, aside from a a few perfunctory lines here and there, the Governor rightly and clearly laid out what this election is about:
In America, everyone should get a fair shot. Barack Obama understands this - because he's lived it. And Barack Obama is running to restore that fair shot for every American. When we look around today, we see that for too many Americans that fair shot is becoming more of a long shot.How many kids have the grades to go to college, but not the money? How many families thought their home would always be their safest investment? How many of our soldiers come back from their second or third tour of duty wondering if the education and health care benefits they were promised will actually be there?
Two wars, a warming planet, an energy policy that says let's borrow money from China to buy oil from countries that don't like us. How many people look at these things and wonder what the future holds for them? Their children? Their country? How many?
In George Bush and John McCain's America, far too many.
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John McCain promises more of the same. A plan that would explode the deficit that will be passed on to our kids. No real plan to invest in our infrastructure. And his plan would continue spending $10 billion a month in Iraq. I don't know about you, but that's just not right. That's four more years that we can't just afford.
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I think we are blessed to be Americans. But with that blessing comes an obligation to our neighbors and our common good. So you give every child the tools they need to succeed. That means quality schools, access to health care, safe neighborhoods. Not just because it's the right thing to do - of course it is - but because if those kids do better, we all do better
You can be soft-hearted or hard-headed; both are going to lead you to the same place: we're all in this together. That's what this party believes. That's what this national believes. That's what Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe.
Right. On. Draw clear contrasts, and tie Democratic ideals to the wise and compassionate idea of a common good.
To bring it home, the good Guv went populist -- and made it clear what good leadership and a commitment to the common good can produce:
We delivered broadband to the most remote areas of our state, because if you can send a job to Bangalore, India, you sure as heck can send one to Danville, Va., and Flint, Mich., and Scranton, Pa., and Peoria, Ill. In a global economy, you should have to leave your home town to find a world-class job.Let me tell you about a place called Lebanon - Lebanon, Virginia. Lebanon is in the coalfields of southwest Virginia, and everyone in that whole town could fit right here on the convention floor. Lebanon is like many small towns in America, it has seen the industries that sustained it downsized, outsourced, or shut down.
Now, some folks look at towns like Lebanon and say, "Tough luck. In the global economy, you've lost." But we believed that we shouldn't, and couldn't, give up on our small towns and expect the rest of the state to prosper. And that's what brought me, towards the end of my term, to the high school gym in Lebanon. To announce that we were going to bring over 300 high-tech jobs. Jobs that paid twice the county average.
One student told a reporter from The Washington Post that before this, he always thought he'd have to move away to get a good job and raise a family. I just heard from this young man, Michael Kisor. Today he is a junior at Virginia Tech. His older brother just moved back home to Lebanon because there was an information technology job open for him that was just too good to pass up.
That's a story worth rewriting all across America.
It was great to be reminded again of how simulaneously dynamic, thoughtful, and inspiring on the stump Mark Warner can be -- and great that the country could also be introduced to him.
He did what a keynote speaker should do -- he sketched out the broad outlines of what our debate is about, and how we should frame the debate going forward.
The Future versus the Past. Exactly.