After stirring speeches and party unity, was Democratic convention a success?
Published Friday August 29th, 2008
DENVER - It was a convention rife with memorable and moving moments, from an ailing Ted Kennedy's surprise trek to Denver to rally the Democratic troops to Hillary Clinton's forceful command that her disappointed delegates support Barack Obama's quest to win the presidency.
The Democrats were bitterly divided in the weeks before the convention, bruised in the aftermath of a tough primary season that left bad blood between the Clinton and Obama camps, and nervous about the Republicans gaining on them in the polls.
"One of the biggest tests heading into the convention was if the Democratic party could unify itself, and at least in that sense, it seems to have been very successful," Andrew Dowdle, an assistant political science professor at the University of Arkansas, said Thursday.
"Bill and Hillary Clinton were crucial to this, and they seemed to have not only reconciled themselves to Barack Obama's candidacy, but they appeared to have some genuine enthusiasm about it."
Barack Obama made a stirring acceptance speech on Thursday night at Denver's NFL stadium, and seconds into his address paid tribute to Hillary Clinton, clearly aiming to quell any concerns that tensions continued to simmer between their two camps.
"Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who travelled the farthest-a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours - Hillary Rodham Clinton," said Obama, who later praised the prosperity that Bill Clinton brought to the U.S. during his eight years in the White House.
Sandra Owens was a Clinton supporter until February, but switched to Obama due to some of the Clintons' campaign tactics.
"I was really disappointed in both of the Clintons from February until Hillary's speech at the convention this week," Owens, a professor of social work at the University of Nevada, said at the Pepsi Center after taking in Bill Clinton's address.
"I really feel she was being sincere. And even though Bill looked disappointed during her speech, he redeemed himself with his own speech. Both of them were very clear in telling people that they must vote Democrat in this election, regardless of the candidate. And I was so glad they said that."
But for some loyal Democrats, Clinton's loss remained a bitter pill to swallow, even after the show of unity at the convention.
"I was disheartened to see men standing in the top two spots at the convention yet again," said Valerie Richardson, 33, an attorney and longtime party fundraiser from South Carolina.
"It seems to me that the Democratic party has some serious work to do in terms of selecting the most viable candidate and taking on that other 'ism' - sexism. That being said, I will vote for Obama because I feel I have to as a Democrat. Hillary's speech reaffirmed my decision to do so."
But will a triumphant and unifying convention have any real impact in the polls? Dowdle suspects not, noting that the party faithful are usually the only ones who regularly tune into political conventions.
"Ratings have increasingly declined for conventions as they became less important over the years and no real news emerged from them," Dowdle says.
"You get people tuning in, but those are mostly the people who are decided voters. You have to wonder if the people who have the most concerns about Barack Obama even bothered to watch. The Democrats need to win the independents and the undecided voters to take the White House, and those people likely weren't even watching this convention."
The convention, in fact, is usually just a starting point for new presidential candidates like Obama and Republican John McCain as they spend the subsequent weeks leading up to the November election trying to help the American public get to know them better.
Interestingly, Dowdle compares Obama's post-convention challenges not to those facing Bill Clinton or John F. Kennedy in their bids for the White House, but to Ronald Reagan's after he won the Republican nomination in 1980. People weren't sure about Reagan, Dowdle said, given his acting background and his appearance as a political lightweight.
"Reagan had to work hard to make voters feel more comfortable with him. It wasn't one moment, one electrifying speech at the convention - it really was a long, drawn-out process," he said.
"There are people who are still not comfortable with Obama due to a variety of factors, inexperience and race chief among them. His task now and until November is to win voters over, and the convention was just the beginning."
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