DENVER -- William Cobb was going to approve of Barack Obama's acceptence speech.

Cobb is a working man, a union man and a proud member of the party of working men and union men: the Democrat Party of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

But Cobb, door-knocker, envelope-stuffer, rally-attender and all-around party activist, needed something he could take back to the white working-class voters of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who remain skeptical about Obama.

Before the Democratic nominee took the stage at Invesco Field, before a cheering crowd of 80,000 supporters, Cobb summed up what he thought Obama had to talk about in his acceptance speech.

"Economics. Economics. Economics," said the 64-year-old man, who lost his job in a stockroom four years ago and has been delivering pizzas since then because, as he says, "No one was going to hire a 64-year-old man for a good-paying job."

"The loyal Democrats will be with Obama," said Cobb, who eshewed the t-shirts worn by most delegates attending the outdoor rally to dress in a shirt and tie for the final night of is party's convention. "But the white guys who usually vote Democratic but who sometimes stray over to the Republicans, we don't have them yet."

The working-class white guys -- and, to an even greater extent, working-class white women -- in states such as Ohio. Pennsylvania, west Virginia and Kentucky voted in a series of late-season Democratic primaries for Obama's challenger, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Cobb came to the Denver convention as a Clinton delegate. And, though he pinned his "Obama" badge on his shirt without complaint, he remained worried -- not just by narrowing poll numbers, but by what he heard from friends and neighbors in Kenosha, an automaking town that doesn't make many autos anymore.

Obama's race -- highlighted by the fact that he delivered his remarks on the 45th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech -- made the task tougher in some neighborhoods, Cobb admitted. So, too. did all the talk about Obama being a "celebrity."

Needless to say, when Obama started riffing on economic themes, Cobb perked up.

"We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work," said the senator from Illinois.

"That's good," said Cobb.

"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," continued Obama. "Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's Army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill."

"I like that," said Cobb.

"In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships," Obama said, carrying the theme forward.

When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed. And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.

"I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine," said Obama, striking the blow at the Republican nominee that red-meat Democrats were listening for. "These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as President of the United States."

Cobb is on his feet now, waving a blue "Change" sign.

This is not Obama the standoffish intellectual -- and certainly not the elite "celebrity."

This is Obama the smart populist, giving a delegate who came to the Democratic National Convention pledged to Hillary Clinton something to take home to the taverns, church basements and union halls of his increasingly post-industrial hometown.

Obama recounts the economic bad news -- "more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less" -- and then says:

These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.

America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.

This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work.

This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he's worked on for twenty years and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news.

We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough!

Cobb is on his feet, pumping his fist in the air.

"Yes," he says, "that's what the country wants to hear."

"It's not that John McCain doesn't care. It's that John McCain doesn't get it," shouted Obama.

"That's it," says Cobb.

But what Bill Cobb really likes is when Obama gets specific.

"So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President," says the senator, as he begins to outline a new "New Deal" -- or, at the least, a fair "Fair Deal" -- that turns the wheels of government to the tasks of providing "affordable, accessible health care for every single American," guaranteeing "paid sick days and better family leave," "equal pay for equal work," ending "our dependence on oil from the Middle East" and ending the practice of "giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas" and "giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America."

"America, now is not the time for small plans," declared Obama.

And Bill Cobb nodded.

"That sounds a little like Kennedy," he says, smiling. "I think the white guys will go for that."

Comments (38)

1. Excellent post, John.

   Somewhat inexplicably, Obama has been hesitant to really pound on bread and butter issues prior to last night's speech.

   It ought to be the beginning of a strengthening pattern --right into November.

   Posted by b_kool_66 at 08/29/2008 @ 03:04am

2. The "elitist" rap against Obama was always bogus.

   How the MSM was so easily suckered into Hillary's talking point on this issue is beyond me when you consider the wealth of the Rodham family and Obama's relatively humble upbringing.

   Posted by Metteyya at 08/29/2008 @ 03:04am

3. I smell Repub panic in the air today....

   and believe we'll see a LOT of thrashing and flailing about!

   Posted by Maskdelta at 08/29/2008 @ 08:48am

4. Half way through the speech discovered I had become color blind, and only noticed that the man was black because he reminded me by "I don't fit the typical presidential candidate". He most certainly erased the stench of intellectual rot of politicians.

   Posted by lachatte at 08/29/2008 @ 09:23am

5. Posted by JOMAMMA at 08/29/2008 @ 08:59am

   No, simply the fact you're spamming and Darin is grasping at David Brooks straws, after a speech that I heard a guy from the HERITAGE FOUNDATION (on XM radio this morning) describe as "a great speech".

   Really you guys need to relax...still 67 days to go and Maverick will get his shot in a few days to get us all "fired up" as he is so often able to do!

   heheh

   Posted by Maskdelta at 08/29/2008 @ 09:51am

6. I am one of those people who believe if you don't vote, you havn't earned the right to bitch about the circumstances.... Posted by JOMAMMA at 08/29/2008 @ 09:28am

   Here Here!

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/29/2008 @ 10:08am

7. "You think it is over becasue of a 42 minute well deliverd speech, written by sdomeone else?"

   They are actually saying he wrote it himself. I know you will keep repeating this to make it seem less sincere but why is it so unbelievable that he wrote it himself?

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/29/2008 @ 10:16am

8. Typical catalog of Democratic promises, never delivered upon, costing more than the GDP of the planet. In addition, Gore's speech was shorter!

   Posted by sntauri at 08/29/2008 @ 11:42am

9. Posted by Darin_the_Troll at 08/29/2008 @ 11:48am

   I know you won't...but if you wanted to screw with FRANK's head today, ask him "If it were Vice-President Palin versus Hillary in '12, who would you vote for, FRANK?"

   He can't answer. If he praises Hillary over Palin, it kills his Sarah Palin buzz today and he admits Palin is a lightweight....

   and he CAN'T honestly say he'd vote Palin over Hillary.

   Of course dishonesty hasn't stopped him so far!

   Posted by Maskdelta at 08/29/2008 @ 12:29pm

10. "I smell Repub panic in the air today.... and believe we'll see a LOT of thrashing and flailing about!"

    Just wait until the storm hits New Orleans. Friendly reminder to people...and darkly hilarious as Doc Dobson was praying for rain last night in Denver. Indeed, it seems he was hit with a shitrain.

    "Speaking of Hillary... Does this change the political calculus? Say Obama beats McCain. That puts Palin as the front runner for 2012. So in a Palin v. Obama match up what if Palin wins and becomes the first female President of the US?"

    Ah, yes, much like we all remember President Ferraro. Boy, this is political analysis at its best.

    Posted by onthehelm at 08/29/2008 @ 12:55pm

11. Nary a word on populism in this discussion. The Chamber of Commerce is a big, and permanent, and monied fixture backing McCain and the Republican party. McCain can appear in a million Walmart parking lots, but it doesn't change the fact that the Chamber of Commerce backs him to the hilt. And every privatizing lobbyist in Washington is hoping that he gets in, so the gravy train won't stop.

    The true meaning of the word 'elite' - not the psychological one chosen by Republicans - but the actual one defined by your class position, is the people who have the money and make the rules. McCain's wife Cindy is one of them, and so is McCain. A endless incumbent in Washington, an insider if there ever was one. Backed by the oil/ gas/ coal/ auto/ nuclear billionaires. And a diehard opponent of unionism, and every it stands for.

    The unions nearly ALL support the other side. So the existing organizations of the working class - white, Asian, Latino and black - support the opponent of McCain. Probbly because Obama will make it easier to join unions, and McCain will make it harder.

    Cracks me up when the fake Republican 'anti-elitists' and friends of the "white" working class oppose unions. Republican fake populism doesn't fool as many people anymore.

    Posted by ElyDog at 08/29/2008 @ 2:45pm

12. Let's be honest. Barack Obama is an America-hater from a party of America haters. His whole campaign depends on selling the lie to the American people that he is NOT an America hater.

    In his speech last night, he makes the very generous statement that he will not question John McCain's patriotism, so, by implication, no one should question Obama's. Neat little trick, but the fact is, for the last 20 years, Obama has been living and breathing America hating. First, by condoning hatred in Reverend Wright's church, and second, by working with known domestic left wing terrorists like Bill Ayers.

    If Obama is elected, it'll be because he manages to cover up his past, with the aid of a willing, cheerleading media. But the American public will have been fooled. What we need is plenty of publicity to make sure this does not happen, despite the threats and intimidation from the people that support Obama.

    Posted by pontificus at 08/29/2008 @ 3:23pm

13. Posted by Darin_the_Troll at 08/29/2008 @ 11:32am

    I'm from GA, so who the hell is Bernie Ward? I know you said talk-show host but that means nothing to me as well. Was he supposed to be somebody important? Just asking.

    Posted by k330k at 08/29/2008 @ 3:24pm

14. That all you got? "America Hater?" Pathetic.

    He met Bill Ayers? He went to a typical black church?

    This guy is so 'whitebread' it hurts. Of course you believe most of the population hates America, since they don't support that war anymore.

    Pathetic.

    Posted by ElyDog at 08/29/2008 @ 3:43pm

15. Big Balls Barack!

    Go for it, it's yours & you've earned it the very hard way.

    You've made history, great history.

    That in itself is an immense accomplishment.

    The GOP bigots are choking on their bile.

    TS.

    They're toast (self-burned).

    Keep delivering variations on your great fighting acceptance speech. And you'll cream the catastrophic GOP.

    Then comes the really hard.

    Governing.

    Still, no one could underperform the last 8 years, except the GOP themselves.

    Posted by sloper at 08/29/2008 @ 3:48pm

16. Certainly, Obama's goals are worthy, but how is he going to going to achieve those goals? You cannot fix the American economy unless you control it. There is no controlling mechanism with "Free Trade". The objective of "Free Trade" is to drive down wages. This means no Middle class lifestyle for American workers or any workers. Middle class workers were also consumers. They are the American market! Low wages mean there is no American market! To control the American market and the economy, you must have a tariff wall behind which new businesses and jobs can be developed within the country. Otherwise, the American people are at the mercy of foreign governments and economies. If energy independence is desirable, isn't economic independence a worthy goal?

    Posted by P. J. Casey at 08/29/2008 @ 3:49pm

17. "If energy independence is desirable, isn't economic independence a worthy goal?"

    neither one is within the realm of the possible.

    Posted by emile duBois at 08/29/2008 @ 4:00pm

18. Posted by ElyDog at 08/29/2008 @ 3:43pm

    Hey, go sing a chorus of 'God Damn America', as Obama's spiritual mentor for 20 years suggests. Or maybe you'd just like to bomb a few buildings, like his business associate, Bill Ayers. Then you can come back here and lie about it like Obama. Then drink some more kool-aid.

    Posted by pontificus at 08/29/2008 @ 4:01pm

19. I think the thing that really scares the lefties is that the McCain campaign and its allies will have quite a few campaign commercials starring the teachings of Barack's spiritual mentor for the last 20 years, the REVUHRUHND Wright and Barack's buddy, Bill Ayers. You folks can lie to yourselves and the media can lie to everyone else (after all, how else can you win?), and you can threaten people all you want, but the truth will come out. Truth is your great enemy.

    Posted by pontificus at 08/29/2008 @ 4:09pm

20. "If energy independence is desirable, isn't economic independence a worthy goal?" neither one is within the realm of the possible.

    Posted by emile duBois at 08/29/2008 @ 4:00pm

    ssshhhhhh.

    voters aren't supposed to know that.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/29/2008 @ 5:07pm

21. If that is the result we are over as a people.

    Posted by JOMAMMA at 08/29/2008 @ 08:59am .

    actually,

    the quality of your writing is far more indicative.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/29/2008 @ 5:09pm

22. Posted by lachatte at 08/29/2008 @ 09:23am

    meow.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/29/2008 @ 5:10pm

23. Getting stirred up is not what I am about..

    Posted by JOMAMMA at 08/29/2008 @ 10:21am

    i will make no personal comments.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/29/2008 @ 5:11pm

24. Truth is your great enemy.

    Posted by pontificus at 08/29/2008 @ 4:09pm

    hahahaha!

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/29/2008 @ 5:12pm

25. (Ross Perot is a billionair, but he is about the furthest thing there is from an elitist.)

    "Elitism" is an attitude that you are better than everyone else. What makes you better, isn't your money or 1500 thread count sheet, or your clothes, but your understanding of the capital "T" Truth.

    Posted by Darin_the_Troll

    bahahahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

    Yah man, billions of dollars doesn't mean anything...it's all about how much beer you can drink in a dive bar...

    Posted by ADHD at 08/29/2008 @ 7:29pm

26. Obama's delivery of someone else's speech..

    I liked the part about going to Bin Laden's cave and getting him. Blood and guts baby! Don't mothball those YF-22s just yet, Obama may want to kill some terrorists.

    Peace my ass.

    If you want the votes of the fence sitters, you'd better be prepared to send in the Marines baby.

    Kwame Kilpatrick for Sec. Of Defense!!

    We KNOW that brother will order a hit.

    Posted by bleedingheart at 08/30/2008 @ 12:44am

27. "Neat little trick, but the fact is, for the last 20 years, Obama has been living and breathing America hating."

    Yup, that is the reason he spent more than ten years working for the poor people in the south side of Chicago. They are not Americans at all, isn't it?

    It is people like you that hate anyone that stands for the poor and call him/her 'un-American'. And people - like Mr. McCain - that voted 19 times against raising the minimum wage of the poorest Americans, or vote against benefits for the Veterans, well they are "All American".

    To love America does not necessarily mean to go to war, but it always will mean to love other Americans, specially the under privileged. America is our people and our land. Those that are regarded as "true America lovers" do pay minimum wages, contaminate our land, and take away jobs from our land, isn't it?

    And the "America haters", like Wright who himself was a soldier, only want America and Americans to be nearer to God. But since God is Truth and Justice, and people like McCain - that make more than 5 million a year- don't like truth or justice, they don't like reverend Wright and accuse him of 'un-American'.

    Did Bush/Cheney loved America enough to dress on uniform in Vietnam?

    Posted by Frank42 at 08/30/2008 @ 02:15am

28. Posted by Frank42 at 08/30/2008 @ 02:15am

    So, you think people like Wright, who encourage other people to sing 'God Damn America', and who tell those same people that the US government invented drugs and AIDS for the express purpose of killing black people....you think people like that 'love America'?

    Posted by pontificus at 08/30/2008 @ 04:29am

29. Posted by pontificus at 08/30/2008 @ 04:29am

    Yeah! Putting America TRILLIONS in debt and getting 4100+ GIs killed to establish an Iran-friendly government is MUCH more patriotic!

    Posted by Maskdelta at 08/30/2008 @ 10:11am

30. Posted by Maskdelta at 08/30/2008 @ 10:11am

    It's astonishing to me, MASK, the lengths to which your partisanship will go to excuse the corrosive and damaging rhetoric of your political allies. Don't you realize how much damage the condoning of rhetoric like Wright's does to our society? To teach young people that our own government has launched schemes to murder them? And you justify this by your flimsy accusations (the responsiblity for trillions of debt clearly lies with both parties) and the fact that you disagree with a war that a majority of America voted for? You are perhaps the most irresponsible person here, because you should know better, but choose not to.

    Posted by pontificus at 08/30/2008 @ 10:15am

31. No,Obama will not be able to do everything he promised, especially if we spend a lot of money in Afghanistan. But over the decades, there are statistics that show, and most elite Republicans know, that life is much better under a Democratic reign.

    Posted by ladyliza at 08/30/2008 @ 10:53am

32. Posted by ladyliza at 08/30/2008 @ 10:53am

    "and most elite Republicans know, that life is much better under a Democratic reign."

    Oh really. Do you know anything about Jimmy Carter's Presidency? Lyndon Johnson's?

    Posted by pontificus at 08/30/2008 @ 10:59am

33. To teach young people that our own government has launched schemes to murder them?

    Posted by pontificus at 08/30/2008 @ 10:15am

    http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/30/2008 @ 12:52pm

34. "So, you think people like Wright, who encourage other people to sing 'God Damn America', and who tell those same people that the US government invented drugs and AIDS for the express purpose of killing black people....you think people like that 'love America'?"

    I don't know what your background is but do you know what a literary figure or metaphor is? Do you have critical thinking? Do you really thinks he hates America as a country?

    Let me explain it briefly. Wright does not hate America, but what the American government does internationally, invading countries and relying on violence. As the Holy Bible says in multiple occassions, damned is who sins against God by killing. He is instead proposing America be more humble and pacific, less materialistic and a country that dialogues with the international community. He is NOT asking for hate by any means. He is asking for recognition of self guilt, repentance, and a change of heart. What they say a real "newborn".

    Now, does he not LOVE America that he wants her to heal from her problems? Or who loves more America, himself or those preachers that call for war against Iran so that Israel can "live in peace"? Or loving America means to be silent on all that this govt. has done that ended in +4,000 Americans and probably 150,000 Iraqis dead? Just judged on those terms don't you think is an overreaction to the "war on terror"? What does the Bible say about their lives? Aren't they worth the same as ours?

    I think Wright only wants us to be honest to ourselves and uses figurative language to get into his audience. Look if he did not love America, he would not be making the tremendous job he does for his community.

    Posted by Frank42 at 08/30/2008 @ 12:54pm

35. (the responsiblity for trillions of debt clearly lies with both parties)

    Posted by pontificus at 08/30/2008 @ 10:15am

    "The cumulative debt of the United States in the past 5 completed fiscal years was approximately $2.78 trillion, or about 29.5% of the total national debt of ~$9.5 trillion."

    U.S. president Party Increase debt/GDP

    Roosevelt/Truman D -24.3%

    Harry Truman D -21.9%

    Dwight Eisenhower R -10.8%

    Dwight Eisenhower R -5.4%

    Kennedy/Johnson D -8.2%

    Lyndon Johnson D -8.3%

    Richard Nixon R -2.9%

    Nixon/Ford R +0.1%

    Jimmy Carter D -3.2%

    Ronald Reagan R +11.3%

    Ronald Reagan R +9.2%

    George H. W. Bush R +13.1%

    Bill Clinton D -0.6%

    Bill Clinton D -8.2%

    George W. Bush R +6.9%

    George W. Bush R +3.9% projection

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/30/2008 @ 12:59pm

36. Don't you realize how much damage the condoning of rhetoric like Wright's does to our society?

    Posted by pontificus at 08/30/2008 @ 10:15am

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A couple arrested at a rally after refusing to cover T-shirts that bore anti-President Bush slogans settled their lawsuit against the federal government for $80,000, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Thursday.

    Nicole and Jeffery Rank of Corpus Christi, Texas, were handcuffed and removed from the July 4, 2004, rally at the state Capitol, where Bush gave a speech. A judge dismissed trespassing charges against them, and an order closing the case was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.

    "THIS SETTLEMENT IS A REAL VICTORY NOT ONLY FOR OUR CLIENTS BUT FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT"

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/30/2008 @ 1:01pm

37. For most of America's history, we had an independent internal market. We do not need foreign trade, as we have the resources, the skills, along with a large population base as a market to be self sufficient. "Free Trade" is destroying the industrial base we had to support ourselves. To regain that base, we follow the same policies that gave it to us. We imposed tariffs high enough on imported good that make it cheaper to produce these goods in this country. Yes you may pay more money for a time, but you get your industries and the jobs that go with them back, or create new ones to replace them! This is American economics and history 101 people. You were a sleep in your high school American history class!

    Posted by P. J. Casey at 08/30/2008 @ 1:07pm

38. P.J. Casey - Bravo!

    It's about time we started a REAL discussion about how to handle the "free trade"debacle embraced by both the Dems and Reps. I hope Mr. Cobb remembers that the "giant sucking sound" of jobs leaving the US began in a big way under Clinton post NAFTA and accelerated with China accepted into WTO. Obama has repudiated neither - "enforcing" trade agreement provisions as the answer is ridiculous when the provisions to be enforced are entirely inadequate (by design) in the first place.

    You are absolutely correct - "free trade", as sold to us, was a device by corporations to destroy unions by making it possible to split producers from consumers, whereby corps could actually make good on their threat to move elsewhere if their workers demanded better conditions and still retain the American market as all the barriers to entry were dropped by these "free trade" deals. The American worker was suckered into trading his good manufacturing job and all that went with it, pension, healthcare etc in return for a) cheap goods at Wal-Mart, b) "retraining" for "hi-tech" jobs that, in turn are being easily outsourced themselves via the magic internet. We cannot keep these jobs here as they can float over cyberspace but we CAN, and frankly MUST, get manufacturing jobs back by simply raising the barriers to entry of any goods NOT MADE in this country. Until Mr. Cobb hears THAT from a candidate, he, indeed, has nothing to take back home to his fellows.

    And the irony is, the failure of the latest round of WTO talks was due to the fact that OTHER countries wanted to be able to protect and subsidize some of their OWN industries, esp. agriculture. "Free Trade", it seems, is good for nobody.

    BOTH Obama and McCain are Free Traders.

    Mr. Cobb, vote 3rd Party, lickety split!

    Posted by H2O at 08/30/2008 @ 4:31pm