The theme is values
Very first impressions of this Democratic Convention are that the Dems will succeed in changing the harmful character image problem currently plaguing Barack Obama or they will fail spectacularly, pulling out all the stops in trying to convince swing voters and Middle America that he’s one of them.
There will be certain “theme nights” at the convention; night focusing on the economy and on foreign policy/national security. But the underlying theme for every speech and every public moment will be that Obama is someone who is safe and who can be trusted, a candidate who, as Nancy Pelosi put it tonight, possesses “enduring American values.” Madame Speaker even threw in references to Barack’s “faith in God” and spoke of his “loving family.”
This is all to paint a picture of security and comfort for not just Hillary voters, but all of the voters in the swing states or Rust Belt who consistently give answers full of skepticism to pollsters who call their homes and describe Obama as “different” in their local haunts.
This could very well be about race; hesitancy to put the past behind us once and for all and elect a black president. But that’s a mood that no campaign or party can influence, so you can bet the Dems will ignore that angle and pump up Obama’s values for the entire week.
That’s why Michelle’s speech tonight is so important - and why the reaction to it by swing voters is more important the actual speech. Michelle can only do so much, but she must be able to at least force the working-class grunts in Ohio or Pennsylvania, Michigan or Missouri, to acknowledge that Barack Obama isn’t all that different from them or even John McCain - right now. His past may be unique, but it’s where he has pushed himself, how he has reached his American Dream that makes him so similar to the common folk of this country.
It’s up to Michelle and Barack and the rest of the Dems up on stage this week to hone that message and make sure it spreads beyond an adoring Pepsi Center/Invesco Field crowd.
M.P.
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follow Colorado delegate Brian O’Donnell with updates from the convention floor on his blog http://www.2008delegate.com