DNC 9/6/12 - Obama, Jill and Joe Biden, Kerry

Some thoughts on the DNC tonight as I watched the speeches...

John Kerry

Kerry gets right to business but in a very accusative and argumentative tone. He seems rushed. Not a good start.

“Despite what you heard in Tampa, an exceptional country does care about the rise of the oceans and the future of the planet. That is a responsibility from the Scriptures—and that too is a responsibility of the leader of the free world.”

THANK YOU!!! This is important and Romney got it wrong.

“It took President Obama to restore our moral authority—and to ban torture.” – This is very important. A lot of Christians talk about what Christians should care about… this is definitely one of those issues and unfortunately we don’t.

“Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off now than he was four years ago.” – Tacky and unnecessary. I don’t like this at all.

Something about which I am VERY proud of our country and President - “President Obama promised to work with Russia to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons and signed an historic treaty that does just that.”

Kerry spends a lot of time making fun of Romney. Most of the issues he brings up need addressing but this is just not a good way to do it.

Dr. Jill Biden

If that isn’t Gospel then I don’t know what is - “THE WAR IN IRAQ IS OVER!” 

I absolutely love that the VPOTUS’s wife is an active teacher at a community college.

Joe Biden is from Scranton, PA? He kind of reminds me of Michael Scott. That explains a lot. :)

A LOT of people make fun of Biden but I think, as a human being, I like him. He seems like a really good guy. Here’s his biopic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su2E2pEEkJI&list=UU6ZFN9Tx6xh-skXCuRHCDpQ&index=19&feature=plcp

Joe Biden

Candid and sincere… I absolutely love his shout to his wife and kids.

The first 10 minutes were anecdotes. They were good but no policy.

Moving more into policy but still anecdotally. This speech is good but the purpose of the speech isn’t to talk policy (so it seems) but to let Biden do what he does best: connect with the people and promote Obama.

THIS is high point of the speech. Biden reinforces the humanity of Romney instead of demonizes him and corrects those who he leads. He shows that he is able to disagree without denigration… so good!  ------- “Mitt Romney grew up in Detroit. My dad managed, his dad owned — well, his dad ran an entire automobile company, American Motors. Yes, what I don't understand is in spite of that, he was willing to let Detroit go bankrupt.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Boo!

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: No, don't. I don't think he's a bad guy. No, no. I don't think he's a bad guy. I'm sure he grew up loving cars as much as I did. But what I don't understand, what I don't think he understood, I don't think he understood that saving the automobile worker, saving the industry, what it meant to all of America, not just autoworkers. I think he saw it the Bain way. Now, I mean this sincerely. I think he saw it in terms of balance sheets and write-offs.

Folks, the Bain way may bring your firm the highest profits. But it's not the way to lead our country from the highest office.”

President Barak Obama

Slow start…

This is something I think we can all believe in and something I don’t hear much from the GOP: “that everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, D.C.”

Probably the boldest thing I have heard a politician say. Honest assessment about the current economic times. No promise of quick fix. And bucking democratic notion that government isn’t the only solution: “Now, I won't pretend the path I'm offering is quick or easy. I never have. You didn't elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth.

And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades. It'll require common effort, shared responsibility, and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one.

And by the way, those of us who carry on his party's legacy should remember that not every problem can be remedied with another government program or dictate from Washington.”

This is very important to me: “And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet, because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They are a threat to our children's future.”

YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I pray to the Lord above that, whoever is president, this happens. In your mercy… – “And while my opponent would spend more money on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs don't even want, I will use the money we're no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and put more people back to work rebuilding roads and bridges and schools and runways, because after two wars that have cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, it's time to do some nation building right here at home.”

What exactly is so wrong with this, my conservative friends? Is this the great evil you want to fight against?: “I want to reform the tax code so that it's simple, fair and asks the wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on incomes over $250,000 - the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was president, the same rate we had when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest surplus in history and a whole lot of millionaires to boot.”

Many of my Republican friends stumble on this issue and the president seems to be addressing it here: “We know that churches and charities can often make more of a difference than a poverty program alone. We don't want handouts for people who refuse to help themselves, and we certainly don't want bailouts for banks that break the rules.” I would ask… if we really think that the Church should be the one leading the way on charity, then why aren’t our churches doing it? We can’t help the poor, and do God’s will, by words alone. Following Jesus actually means using our feet not just our mouth.

I hope you watched. This is our President and this is a good outline of his plan for the future if re-elected.

In my next post I will end this political coverage of the RNC and DNC with how I think this all fits into the Kingdom discipleship of following Jesus.