Invesco Field i Denver

Torsdag kväll i Denver i Colorado och det demokratiska komventets sista dag. Efter en trög start gick gårdagen betydligt bättre och idag var det alltså dags för kulmen, Obamas viktiga tal på Invesco field inför närmare 70 000 entusiastiska åhörare.

Det var ett bra tal, ett tal i vilket Obama inte svamlade utan gick till angrepp mot John McCain och samtidigt målade upp en klar och mycket slående skillnad mellan sin egen och McCains vision om framtidens USA.

Det var också ett tal som visade att det finns ett helt annat USA än det som vi läser om på Timbros hemsida och i den borgerliga pressen:

Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can’t afford to drive, credit card bills you can’t afford to pay, and tuition that’s beyond your reach.

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.

Obama gick snabbt till angrepp mot McCain men han gjorde det efter att först ha hyllat honom, något som jag tror var fel. Men Obama och demokraterna vågar inte riva av McCain hans hjältegloria, slänga den i rännstenen och sedan stampa på den, något som var det första som George Bush och Karl Rove gjorde med John Kerrys hjältegloria för fyra år sedan.

Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we’ll also hear about those occasions when he’s broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.

But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

Köer utanför stadion.

Men det var bra av Obama att använda ordet “gammal” i samband med McCain och att beskriva honom som en man som har förlorat kontakten med den amerikanska medelklassen. Vilket vi alla fick ett bevis på när McCain, som gärna vill låtsas som om han tillhörde medelklassen för några dagar sedan inte ens visste hur många lyxvillor han äger.

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.

Obama fortsatta med att beskriva vardagslivet för miljoner amerikaner i rostbältet i Mellanvästern och på andra platser, de väljare som demokraterna måste vinna över om han skall ha en chans att besegra McCain.

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.

Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton’s Army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.

In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships.

When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.

And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. She’s the one who taught me about hard work. She’s the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she’s watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.

Det är f.ö. många av just de väljarna som röstade på George Bush för fyra åren sen trots att de visste att John Kerry skulle ge dom mat för dagen. Men de svalt hellre än att rösta på en kandidat som Bush och republikanerna sade stödde könsneutrala äktenskap.

Obama visade också politiskt mod genom att ta upp frågor som immigration, USA:s sjuka vapenlagar och könsneutrala äktenskap:

The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has been lost these past eight years can’t just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose – our sense of higher purpose. And that’s what we have to restore.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.

The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don’t tell me we can’t uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.

I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.

Passions fly on immigration, but I don’t know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America’s promise – the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

Obama har kritiserats för att han inte har lagt fram detaljerade förslag utan endast har talar vagt om förändringar. I det här talet var han mycket mer specifik än någonsin tidigare:

… So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President.

Change means a tax code that doesn’t reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Som sagt, ett mycket bra tal efter Bill och Hillarys och Joe Bidens utmärkta tal igår. Trots den tröga starten så tror jag att Obama och demokraterna har lyckats förvånansvärt bra med det här konventet, något som också kan ses i Obamas förbättrade opinionssiffror där Gallup nu har honom sex procent föra McCain.

Nu följer McCains och republikanernas konvent nästa vecka och sedan får vi se hur ställningen står mellan Obama och det nya USA och McCain och 1930:talets USA.

Mitt eget slutintryck av Obamas tal är att det ger en bild av dagens USA som de flesta svenskar säkert inte skulle tro var sann. Om jag skulle skriva liknande saker här på bloggen så skulle jag omedelbart bli anklagad för USA-hat.

Men efter åtta års misstyre under George Bush så är det här ett samhälle som har hamnat vid vägs ände.

Vi får nu bara hoppas att Obama verkligen ger järnet och vinner presidentvalet.

Svenska presskommentarer:
Nu börjar allvaret för Obama

Sahlin förundrad över USA-politiken

Blogganden hör framtiden till.

Plats på scen för Barack Obama