Opinion
Now, the Real Work Begins
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
B ERNIE F OSTER
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B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER
Executive Editor
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M ONICA J. F OSTER
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The Skanner Newspaper, established
in October 1975, is a weekly publica-
tion, published each Wednesday by
IMM Publications Inc.,
T
he
2012
Democratic
National Convention was an
exuberant celebration of
President Obama, his accomplish-
ments, and the many ways his
presidency has made us better off
than we were four years ago.
Between a stirring and incandes-
cent speech by First Lady
Michelle Obama, and an impas-
sioned charge by former President
Bill Clinton, the delegates were
roused and the pressure was high
for President Obama to deliver an
inspiring charge to those who have
already spend hundreds of hours
and thousands of dollars to partic-
ipate in the convention.
Truly, he delivered with a tone
that was alternately exuberant,
defiant, humorous, and apologetic.
Most importantly, he spoke of our
country as being at a fork in the
road, with choices to be made.
Forward with Obama, backward
with Romney. He challenged the
delegates to move forward and
embrace his accomplishments.
Spirits were certainly high as thou-
sands of delegates left the Time
Warner Cable Arena chanting,
“Fired up, ready to go.”
Why are political conventions
held, anyway? Some are con-
vinced they could’ve easily col-
lapsed their three or four day
schedule to just one or two days,
because they are so scripted. Yet,
one or two days might not be
enough to engender the excite-
ment that was present on Thursday
night – the chanting, the hugging,
the notion that, despite significant
challenges, hard work will bring
Democrats a victory in Novem-
B ENNETT
C OLLEGE
Julianne
Malveaux
ber. The convention is a tool to
bring delegates, who are local
leaders, into focused campaign
activity. The convention is a tool
to get the delegates out to organize
and mobilize people.
After the euphoria, though, real-
holding the line, and that absent
cooperation on the American Jobs
Act, our president is doing the best
that he or anyone else can do.
Is holding the line good
enough? The African American
unemployment rate is 14.1 per-
cent. With the underutilization
index, Black unemployment rates
were nearly 26 percent, which
means that one in four African
Americans do not have work.
Some say this is an underesti-
mate. There are 5 million people
who are part of the long term
unemployed, people who were out
of work for half a year or more.
As much as I was fired up by President
Obama’s speech, and the ones that
preceded it, I also listened to it
through the lens of Leroy, the brother
who has been unemployed, or even
out of the labor force, for half a year
or more
ity sets in. In other words, on Fri-
day morning, the reality of
unemployment rates sets in.
While the unemployment rate
dropped just a bit, from 8.3 to 8.1
percent, the level of job creation
does not meet expectations. In
other words, with only 96,000 jobs
created, the Republicans have hay
to make about the employment sit-
uation.
On the other hand,
Democrats can clearly say that that
President Obama’s policies are
These folks represent 40 percent
of the unemployed. The data can
be spun either way. Not enough?
Holding the line? Failure? On the
road to progress?
As much as I was fired up by
President Obama’s speech, and the
ones that preceded it, I also lis-
tened to it through the lens of
Leroy, the brother who has been
unemployed, or even out of the
labor force, for half a year or
more. Leroy listened, and Leroy
415 N. Killingsworth St.,
applauded, and maybe Leroy even
agreed that we are at a fork in the
road. But when Leroy is asked if
he is better off than he was four
years ago, he is only thinking
about his unemployment. He is
thinking that he can’t pay his rent.
He is thinking that he is worse off,
and a great speech won’t make
him feel better.
The Democratic challenge is to
meet Leroy where he lives, to
explain to him that his job
prospects might be even more
restricted under a Romney-Ryan
administration than an Obama
one. The challenge is to move
Leroy past his angst and indiffer-
ence to the same enthusiasm that
delegates felt on Thursday night.
The speeches are over and the
work now begins.
Speeches
won’t bring electoral victory. A
solid ground operation and lots of
elbow grease will.
After the speech, as people filed
out of the Time Warner Cable
Arena, I spent some time with the
Pacifica team from Los Angeles,
Margaret Prescod, Davey D, and
others. Congresswoman Maxine
Waters, Ralph Nader, and I talked
about the speech and next steps.
Nader is most critical, indicating
that President Obama spoke nei-
ther of poverty nor increasing the
minimum wage. While he is right,
one wonders if, at a fork in the
road, these are appropriate criti-
cisms. Nader is a critic of the two-
party political system, but that’s
all we have now, so we have to
work it.
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REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART
11 Memorable Quotes from the DNC
#11 – Former Florida
Republican Gov. Charlie
Christ:
“Half a century ago, Ronald
Reagan, the man whose relentless
optimism inspired me to enter pol-
itics, famously said that he didn’t
leave the Democratic Party; the
party left him. I can certainly
relate. I didn’t leave the Republi-
can Party; it left me. Then again,
as my friend Jeb Bush recently
noted, Reagan himself would have
been too moderate and too reason-
able for today’s GOP.”
WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED.
#10- Massachusetts Senatori-
al Candidate Elizabeth War-
ren:
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Page 4 The Portland Skanner
“After all, Mitt Romney’s the
guy who said corporations are
people. No, Governor Romney,
corporations are not people. Peo-
ple have hearts, they have kids,
they get jobs, they get sick, they
cry, they dance. They live, they
love, and they die. And that mat-
ters. That matters. That matters
because we don’t run this country
for corporations, we run it for peo-
ple.”
#9 – First Lady Michelle
Obama:
“Barack knows the American
Dream because he’s lived it…and
he wants everyone in this country
to have that same opportunity, no
matter who we are, or where we’re
September 12, 2012
T HE C URRY
R EPORT
George E.
Curry
from, or what we look like, or who
we love. And he believes that
when you’ve worked hard, and
done well, and walked through
that doorway of opportunity…you
do not slam it shut behind
you…you reach back, and you
give other folks the same chances
that helped you succeed.”
“President Obama is protecting
immigrants. Mitt Romney wants
to send them back. This election
will determine whether high
school valedictorians, football
team captains, and student council
presidents will be treated with
respect – or treated like suspects.”
what? Back to the failed policies
that drove us into a deep reces-
sion? Back to the days of record
job losses? Back to the days when
insurance companies called being
a woman a ‘pre-existing condi-
tion’? No, thank you. I don’t want
to go back.”
#6- Musician James Taylor:
#3- The late Senator Ted
Kennedy (clip from 1994
debate with Mitt Romney):
“It’s an empty chair, it makes
you nervous, don’t worry — I’m
going to sit on it. I’m not going to
talk to it.”
#5 – Former President Bill
Clinton:
“In Tampa, the Republican argu-
ment against the president’s re-
“If Mitt was Santa Claus, he’d fire the
reindeer and outsource the elves.”
— Ted Strickland, former Ohio governor
#8- HHS Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius:
“What’s missing from the Rom-
ney-Ryan plan for Medicare is
Medicare. Instead of the Medicare
guarantee, Republicans would
give seniors a voucher that limits
what is covered….”
#7 – Rep. Luis Gutierrez
(Ill.):
election was actually pretty simple
– pretty snappy. It went something
like this: ‘We left him a total mess.
He hasn’t cleaned it up fast
enough. So fire him and put us
back in.’”
#4- Maryland Gov. Martin
O’Malley:
“Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan
now say they want to take Ameri-
ca back. And so we ask: Back to
“I have supported Roe v. Wade. I
am pro-choice. My opponent is
multiple-choice.”
#2 – Former Michigan Gov.
Jennifer Granholm:
“Mitt Romney loves our lakes
and our trees. He loves our cars so
much, they even have their own
elevator. But the people who
design and build and sell those
cars? Well, in Romney’s world,
the cars get the elevator, and the
workers get the shaft!”
#1- Ted Strickland, former
Ohio governor:
“If Mitt was Santa Claus, he’d
fire the reindeer and outsource the
elves.”
George E. Curry, former editor-
in-chief of Emerge magazine, is
editor-in-chief of the National
Newspaper Publishers Associa-
tion News Service (NNPA).