These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush. America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.
[. . .] It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.
For over two decades, he's 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.
Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.
You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country. We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.
We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work.
The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great - a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight. [Emphasis added]
The excerpt above is from my favorite speech by President Obama, his 2008 Democratic Convention speech. I like the speech so much that I have embedded the video and ask that you all watch it again. It is also an important document for understanding what we Democrats need as a party and what the nation needs from its leaders?a clear-eyed, full-throated explication and exhortation for Democratic values.
I believe this is imperative not just because it will, in my view, help the president win reelection?a critical goal for all of us?it is also imperative because the nation must be presented a choice, a critical choice, of how we meet the unprecedented challenges we now face. The president has, in my view, not always made the best choices in terms of policies, particularly on the economy. Perhaps the choices were constrained by certain political realities. Unfortunately, these choices were not presented as made as a result of unwise constraints placed on the president's vision by the Congress. Instead, they were presented as the president's choices. The time has come for the president and Democrats to present what they think should be done to face our problems. And if the Republicans block the Democrats and the president from doing what they believe the country needs, then the president must go to the country and present the choice. He must say THIS is what we need to do. The other party disagrees. You, the American people, must make the choice.
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