Obama's nomination

Congrats to nominee Obama! Thank goodness it's over - Round One at least. Tonight's speech was a bit lengthy and trite at times, but was also quite powerful and set a good tone for the upcoming general election. If voters believe in his message, and so far many seem to, then the choice appears fairly straightforward. Obama's change, optimism, and unity versus the GOP's fear, division, and the continuation of questionable policies.

He did well to laud Senator Clinton's achievements and acknowledge her past and future importance to the party/country (emphasizing the importance of her supporters to him). Hopefully in the coming months he can attempt to address his difficulty in reaching some elements of her base. Obama will surely make mistakes and utter silly things on the campaign trail and during debates that will be exploited by the media and McCain's camp. But if he keeps his overall message this focused and positive, without being too preachy and naive, then I think he'll be tough to defeat (that is, if the fight is fair).

Highlights of the transcript:

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama spoke Tuesday to a rally at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota:
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Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, greet the audience Tuesday in St. Paul, Minnesota.

At this defining moment for our nation, we should be proud that our party put forth one of the most talented, qualified field of individuals ever to run for this office. I have not just competed with them as rivals, I have learned from them as friends, as public servants and as patriots who love America and are willing to work tirelessly to make this country better. They are leaders of this party, and leaders that America will turn to for years to come.

That is particularly true for the candidate who has traveled further on this journey than anyone else. Sen. Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign. She has made history not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.
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We've certainly had our differences over the last 16 months. But as someone who's shared a stage with her many times, I can tell you that what gets Hillary Clinton up in the morning -- even in the face of tough odds -- is exactly what sent her and Bill Clinton to sign up for their first campaign in Texas all those years ago; what sent her to work at the Children's Defense Fund and made her fight for health care as first lady; what led her to the United States Senate and fueled her barrier-breaking campaign for the presidency -- an unyielding desire to improve the lives of ordinary Americans, no matter how difficult the fight may be. And you can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country -- and we will win that fight -- she will be central to that victory. When we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen. Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

There are those who say that this primary has somehow left us weaker and more divided. Well I say that because of this primary, there are millions of Americans who have cast their ballot for the very first time. There are independents and Republicans who understand that this election isn't just about a change in the party in Washington, but also about the need to change Washington. There are young people, and African-Americans, and Latinos and women of all ages who have voted in numbers that have broken records and inspired a nation.

All of you chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply. But at the end of the day, we aren't the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard. You didn't do that because of me or Sen. Clinton or anyone else. You did it because you know in your hearts that at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- we cannot afford to keep doing what we've been doing. We owe our children a better future. We owe our country a better future. And for all those who dream of that future tonight, I say -- let us begin the work together. Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America.

In just a few short months, the Republican Party will arrive in St. Paul with a very different agenda. They will come here to nominate [Sen.] John McCain, a man who has served this country heroically. I honor -- we honor -- the service of John McCain, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine. My differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign.

Because while John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign.

It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush 95 percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year.

It's not change when he offers four more years of Bush economic policies that have failed to create well-paying jobs, or insure our workers or help Americans afford the skyrocketing cost of college -- policies that have lowered the real incomes of the average American family, and widened the gap between Wall Street and Main Street and left our children with a mountain of debt.

It's not change when he promises to continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians -- a policy where all we look for are reasons to stay in Iraq, while we spend billions of dollars a month on a war that isn't making the American people any safer.

So, I'll say this -- there are many words to describe John McCain's attempt to pass off his embrace of George Bush's policies as bipartisan and new. But change is not one of them.

I won't stand here and pretend that there are many good options left in Iraq, but what's not an option is leaving our troops in that country for the next hundred years -- especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.

We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in -- but start leaving we must. It's time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their future. It's time to rebuild our military and give our veterans the care and the benefits they deserve when they come home. It's time to refocus our efforts on al Qaeda's leadership and Afghanistan, and rally the world against the common threats of the 21st century -- terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. That's what change is.

Change, Minnesota, is realizing that meeting today's threats requires not just our firepower, but the power of our diplomacy -- tough, direct diplomacy where the president of the United States isn't afraid to let any petty dictator know where America stands and what we stand for. We must once again have the courage and the conviction to lead the free world. That is the legacy of Roosevelt, and Truman and Kennedy. That's what the American people demand. That's what change is.

Change is building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but the work and workers who created it. It's understanding that the struggles facing working families can't be solved by spending billions of dollars on more tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs, but by giving a middle-class tax break to those who need it and investing in our crumbling infrastructure, and transforming how we use energy, and improving our schools and renewing our commitment to science and innovation.

Now, the other side will come here in September and offer a very different set of policies and positions, and that is a good thing, that is a debate I look forward to. It is a debate that the American people deserve -- on the issues that will determine the future of this country and the future of our children. But what you don't deserve is another election that's governed by fear, and innuendo and division. What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon. What you won't see from this campaign or this party is a politics that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to polarize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.

In our country, I have found that this cooperation happens not because we agree on everything, but because behind all the false labels and false divisions and categories that define us; beyond all the petty bickering and point-scoring in Washington, Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people, united by common challenges and common hopes. And every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental goodness to make this country great again.

America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.
The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs for the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment -- this was the time -- when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. Thank you, Minnesota, God bless you, God bless the United States of America.

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Sorry for the naive question which probably has a simple answer, but I'm not familiar with party convention procedure:

Why does Hillary want to retain her delegates and not endorse Obama outright? How are they of any use to her now that she is mathematically eliminated from the nomination? I don't understand how she can use them as leverage to get certain things from the party. Obama doesn't "need" her delegates right?

On NPR this morning, a historian was discussing Hillary's possible next moves, and sadly the VP spot is like her best option. She's still quite a junior Senator, so it would be like 8 years until she gets a chairmanship. The current governor of NY (Spitzer's replacement Patterson) is fairly popular and will be there until 2010 at least. And if Obama wins this fall, she'll be 68 if she wants to run again. Oh well, she could always retire to the private sector and make $10k per speech like her husband.

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Basically, she's still hoping Obama will make some kind of dramatic fuck-up that
would allow her to reenter the race at some point before the convention. It's
probably also leverage to try and get the VP slot so as to take this kind of
threat off the table.

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Well, I've heard that she has some fairly significant debt from running her campaign and she wants to make it all back by campaigning some more. Although why someone would donate to a campaign that's lost already I don't really know.