Mile High Hopes

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Since I have last blogged, I have experienced a lot in the Mile High City. Some fellow collegians and I met Ted Koppel, the former anchor of ABC’s Nightline. We also saw performances by poet Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, singer Randy Newman, and comedian Lee Camp. In addition, we have attended speeches by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DNC chairman Howard Dean, Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Senator Barbara Boxer of California, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Kentucky politician Jonathan Miller, political strategist Donna Brazile, former United States Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Kathy Cloninger, journalists Richard Reeves and Juan Williams, and many others.

We also attended a presentation about SheShouldRun.org. The project encourages women to become leaders in politics. Visit the Web site if you know a woman who should run for public office.

Other college students and I attended a viewing of 18 in ’08, a documentary that encourages young voters to participate in the political process. After the viewing, a discussion occurred featuring filmmaker David Burstein and the newly-elected President of the College Democrats of America, Katie Naranjo of Texas.

It seems to me that the theme of this convention is not discontent with the current administration. The theme is to unite Americans behind Senator Barack Obama. The Democratic Party is pushing for a better tomorrow by encouraging better leadership. America has seen Republican leadership for the past 8 years. President George W. Bush was supposed to surround himself with the best and the brightest of the country, and we have seen the results.

Moreover, the Democratic Party continues to want to brand itself as the party of the people. It has touted itself because of its diversity. Americans were able to see a debate between the party’s candidates, and they saw a Latino, a woman, an African American male, and white male compete for the nomination. On the Republican side of the debate, progress did not seem to be as evident.

The main issues of the convention appear to be energy plans and equal pay. For more information, visit DemConvention.com

KB