Blogging the Democratic National Convention

by Maria Carter, Wakulla County Delegate

August 26, 2008 

Publisher's Note:  Four delegates from Wakulla County will be attending the Democratic National Convention this week in Denver, Colorado.  The convention officially runs from August 25th to August 28th.  The delegates are Mary Mooney, Mike Williams, Maria Carter, and Alan Brock.  We will be featuring daily blog entries here on Wakulla.com, sort of like our own "You Were There" column.  This is Maria Carter's entry, emailed to us at 2:21 p.m. on Tuesday, August 27, 2008.

Tonight, Hillary Clinton reminded us why she could have been the next president of the United States of America.  Her speech was an incredible moment for every person in that convention hall, and a quasi-magical one for all us women.  I find myself searching for words to describe the massive impact that Senator Clinton's candidacy has had on my own perceptions of my potential to do and be anything I can imagine.  I have not always found favor in the things she has said and done in her career – although I am an alternate delegate pledged to Sen. Clinton, I have never been the type to fall head-over-heels for any political figure who I didn't know personally, and know well, for that matter.  But Clinton's words last night were exceptionally chosen, and if we can demand anything of our statesmen and stateswomen, it should be that they say their words clearly and powerfully, lifting us up with the force of their ideas.  We are, after all, electing our National Communicator as much as we are electing our National Executor.  I was more than impressed by her masterful handling of what was undoubtedly a difficult situation.

{sidebar id=1}I hope all those in the television audience also got to experience the other wonderful speeches given during tonight's convention.  One of my favorites was Gov. Brian Schwietzer of Montana, whose energy was truly contagious.  He has done amazing things in his state in terms of new energy policy and creating jobs, and his strategy is fully bi-partisan.  I also enjoyed Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia, whose comment about using a revolution in alternative energy to fuel a massive generation of new jobs was spot-on and refreshingly specific.  He invoked JFK with his forward-looking view of the future versus the past, and I think those ideas resonate with my generation on a deep level.

Some great stateswomen also spoke, including Eleanor Holmes Norton of D.C., Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.  The convention is 51% female this year, and it's absolutely over-flowing with incredibly qualified women at every level of leadership (including one of my favorite female leaders, Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood).  It's a wonderful way to celebrate the 88th anniversary of women's enfranchisement.

Dennis Kucinich's speech was also so dynamic that I privately mourned the fact that his penchant for passionate, intelligent, specific discourse wasn't enough to see him through the brutally superficial TV-era of presidential campaigning.

Which brings me to a few criticisms that I bet all you folks back home have been thinking about.  Namely, if I hear the words "We can't afford four more years of the same failed policies," one more time, I may end up dumping my water bottle onto some poor, cheering delegate's head.  I don't disagree with the statement, but I have a very low tolerance for bumper-sticker politics.  It seems that nearly every speech made tonight contained more than enough clichés and slogans to satisfy even the most attention-deficited viewer, and frankly, I felt rather starved for substance.  This is no pointed criticism of Democrats, as I find that Republicans are usually even more shallow and simplistic with their rhetoric, and the words that come from the GOP party line mouth I usually find far more offensive.

But seriously, folks . . . the lack of substance is really our collective fault.  The politicians don't do it because they are unintelligent enough to say anything better.  They do it because we don't pay attention long enough for the real stuff.  We don't clap loudest for the smartest, most specific and detailed policy plans.  We don't turn off our TVs and reach for The New Yorker or The Economist instead, for a real, complete story that's more than 5 minutes of sound-bytes.

{sidebar id=1}And here's another reason to turn off your TV, or at least, regard it with healthy suspicion as you watch the rest of the week's events at the DNC.  I spent most of the primary season watching Obama and Clinton's speeches on TV, and I confess, I was only a little moved by a few specific moments.  All the lights and makeup and TV-screen crowds turn me off, and it's hard to see the candidates as people when the TV makes everyone and everything seem so fake and pre-programmed.  So I encourage you to physically GO to SEE the candidates in which you are interested (and even those you don't yet find interesting!) before you cast a vote or form a strong opinion.  The TV skews reality in a way that is difficult to explain, but I'll try.

See, it seems obvious to say, but it's not necessarily easy to truly imbibe.  The candidates ARE real people.  Their families are real.  Their thoughts and emotions are real.  Their words are real ideas, and we ought to do these real people the courtesy of honestly considering what they have to say.  Now, whether you believe those words are honest or manipulative is a whole other pot of grits.

But let me ask you this.  Do you really think that real Americans, with real families and friends who love them, who are really traveling the country talking and listening to folks, just like Obama and the other candidates for Congress and state and local office are doing, are more likely to be faux media creations who will say anything to get elected, or are they more likely to be more like us, with a little extra anxiety about how the things they say may be construed?  I just don't believe that MOST people are THAT dishonest.  But TV does something to the way we perceive people, and I hope everyone will take that extra step to see and hear and shake hands in-person with the people who want our votes in November.

Face-to-face, you can learn things about people that surpass their words, even if you're seeing them from a few rows back.  And if you can believe that a candidate is basically honest, then all you've got to do is research the things they say they will do, and make your voting decision based on policy.  That is, after all, the way our government was designed to work.  I think it could still work that way, if we all made civic involvement a greater priority.

That's all for now.  In sum, I think the Democratic Party is advancing an excellent platform for taking our homeland and foreign policy in a brilliant new direction.  When it comes down to it, electing people means that you're agreeing to trust them.  If you feel you can't do that, you ought to move to the Yukon where you won't have to live in a community where we need trust and cooperation to get things done.  If you'd rather stay here, then get to know your candidates as best you can, and don't listen to the pundits and the commentators.  They don't know any better than you do.    

Maria Carter
Wakulla County Delegate

Click here to view a great photo gallery of the DNC taken by Alan Brock, Delegate for Wakulla County.  

This blog entry originally published on August 27, 2008.

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