 Obama tells Republicans it's 'enough'
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-30 07:53 DENVER: Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination and pledged to help Americans recapture their country's promise after eight "failed" years of Republican policies, pushing ahead in a bid to become the US' first black president. In a startling selection days before the start of the Republican National Convention, rival John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential running mate on Friday. In an announcement, McCain's campaign said that Palin, who has been governor less than two years, "has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of. Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today".
The timing of McCain's selection appeared designed to limit any political gain Obama derives from his own convention, which ended Thursday night (early Friday Beijing time) with his nomination acceptance speech before an estimated 84,000 in Invesco Field in Colorado. Obama brought the four-day Democratic National Convention to a thunderous end with scathing criticism of McCain. His rival, he said, offered nothing more than an extension of President George W. Bush's policies, and the Republicans' staid politics that had undercut Americans' prosperity and security. "Tonight, I say to the people of America, to Democrats and Republicans and independents across this great land - enough!" said Obama, speaking before cheering supporters on the 45th anniversary of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech - an exhortation for racial unity in the face of injustice. The first-term Illinois senator was to begin on Friday the final sprint of the Nov 4 election battle with a campaign trip through battleground Midwestern states in an effort to advance in a race in which he is running neck-and-neck with McCain after a summer of relentless attacks from the veteran senator. The selection of Palin, a 44-year-old political reformer who lacks the national profile of Sen Joe Biden, Obama's running mate, could help McCain blunt criticism that he had little new to offer the country. She would also only be the second woman nominated for the job. The first was Geraldine Ferraro who ran on Walter Mondale unsuccessful 1984 presidential ticket. Obama, appealing to fellow Democrats at the Denver stadium, said his mission was to restore "that American promise that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend". And the candidate, whom McCain has dubbed too inexperienced for the White House, again sought to allay perceptions that he would not be as able to guard the United States against the numerous domestic and international challenges the country faces. Obama further renewed his promise to withdraw American combat troops from Iraq in 16 months and to negotiate from strength with America's foes. He also vowed to cut taxes "for 95 percent of all working families", and to end American dependence on Middle East oil in 10 years. Agencies (China Daily 08/30/2008 page1) |
