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With his party's nomination in hand, Sen. Barack Obama launched a historic general-election campaign by promising a middle-class economic renewal and tying his Republican opponent tightly to the record of the current president.
Barack Obama planned to make a hard pitch for his fitness as commander in chief and as a responsible steward of the nation's economy, according to advance speech excerpts, arguing that Republican rival John McCain would simply extend what Democrats consider the failed policies of President George W. Bush's administration.
'We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy,'' Sen. Obama said. 'So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe.''
The speech will be the culmination of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, delivered in a football stadium holding 75,000, packed with supporters. Sen. Obama used the speech to promise to energize the nation's middle class by restoring balance to the economy by junking the policies adopted by President Bush. The excerpts pushed the Democrats' main campaign strategy -- tying Sen. McCain to the unpopular Bush.
'John McCain has voted with George Bush 90% of the time,'' Sen. Obama said. 'Sen. McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than 90% of the time?'
Known for the high ideas that characterize his most memorable speeches, Sen. Obama's nominating rhetoric was more methodical than usual in both substance and structure. Opening with a few biographical paragraphs about his Kenyan father and Midwestern mother, Sen. Obama moved quickly to a more prosaic recital of his platform and policy planks. In a speech that tilted heavily toward economic policy, Sen. Obama spoke of revamping the tax code and noted the problems caused by the current credit crisis and the high price of gasoline.
'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,'' Sen. Obama said.
Sen. Obama devoted a large portion of his speech to the price of oil and the threat of global warming, turning again to the campaign's policy book for energy independence. Sen. Obama offered a thumbnail sketch of that policy: $150 billion in government investments in alternative energy and a goal of creating five million new jobs. Again, he attacked his Republican rival for standing by passively as a senator while the nation increased its energy dependence.
'Washington has been talking about our oil addiction for the last 30 years, and John McCain has been there for 26 of them,' Sen. Obama said in the advance excerpts. 'And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office.''
`Sen. Obama also emphasized his fitness to be commander in chief and what he characterized as failures by Republicans to keep the nation safe. He pledged to end the war in Iraq and promised not to start unnecessary conflicts. 'As commander-in-chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home,'' Sen. Obama said.
