The AFL-CIO debate last night with 6 of the Democratic contenders for 2008 might be best summed up by the Chicago Sun-Times - "The winner last night was Big Labor" - but, in this debate, there were many honorable mentions.
This decade opened with 9/11, continued with Hurricane Katrina, and is now ending with awful heat waves, mines collapsing, and bridges crumbling. Instead of divisive issues like gay marriage and abortion, the Democrats last night got to finally talk about things that matter to working people everyday.
From Kucinich's passionate lines about NATO and the WTO to the disabled man, with tears in his eyes, asking "What's wrong with America and what will you to do to change it?" to Hillary's "I'm your girl." - this was a debate for everyone with the voices of average Americans being heard.
It's easy to be pessimistic after such a great debate; it's easy to see the father whose daughter had to buy part of her soldier's uniform in Iraq and the woman whose husband had died in the mine in West Virginia last year and think about the many obstacles the next administration has. But, this debate made me optimistic. These trials had truly made these, and all, Americans ready for something more. They were ready to ask the tough questions, while putting themselves on the line on national television, and this gives me hope that one of those Democrats onstage can help to start bringing this country back in the right direction.
Basically, if you didn't see the debate last night (and who thought they wanted to watch another in the long series?), you really should YouTube it/watch as many clips as possible/read some live-blogging. This very real debate was a refreshing break from the campaign non-realities we all get so caught up in.
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Wednesday, August 08, 2007
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2 comments:
So, I totally agree with Liz. (Possibly because we watched the debate together, and our emotions played off of each others'. We cried. Don't deny it, Liz.)
This debate was really moving. The people asking questions were very real, and had very real stories. The candidates were more real then we've ever seen them, addressing and challenging each other directly. The audience was responsive, and cheered and booed without prompting.
If you didn't watch, I recommend it...
the good news for anyone who missed the debate and is too broke to pay for TiVo (let's face it, that's pretty much every college student)-- NBC, ABC, C-SPAN, and CNN have all agreed to share debate footage on YouTube. Fox and CBS are still being totally 1999 about it.
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