Democratic Convention Opens in Denver

Barack Obama is on the defensive as Republican candidate John McCain catches up with him in the polls. Obama has announced that his running mate will be Joseph Biden, a politician with international experience. The Democratic Convention in Denver will anoint Obama with maximum publicity.

Now the cast has been assembled. The Democratic Convention gets underway in Denver on Monday, and Joseph Biden, with his graying hair and amiable appearance, will be sharing the limelight with Obama.

This gigantic media-saturated ritual ought to go without a hitch. Never before has there been so much national and international attention. None of the Democrats’ delegates or sympathizers would want to miss this historic moment when, for the first time ever, a black candidate will be handed responsibility by his party for taking the White House.

And yet it’s not all cause for celebration. While the overwhelming majority of Americans regard the current administration’s track record as a disaster, Obama, for all his promises of change, seems unable to take advantage of the situation. Worse still, with each passing month the Republican John McCain has been slowly but surely eroding Obama’s lead in the opinion polls. The polls today give Obama a majority so tiny that it falls within the statistical margin of error.

Of course, Obama still possesses some undeniable advantages. He will give his acceptance speech on Thursday in a football stadium in front of over 70,000 people, as if to remind everyone that no building, no matter how vast, can contain his immense charisma. His campaign coffers are always full, and he can afford to respond at lightning speed to the slightest attack from his opponent.

But, for the Democrats, there’s the rub. Rather than setting the campaign agenda, Obama and his team today find themselves on the defensive. McCain is leading the attack, and Obama is forced to defend himself again and again-– over his personal characteristics, his credentials as a “real American”, and the charge that he is all image and no substance, a creature of the media.

How Many Houses?

Obama will just have to keep on defending himself. Hillary Clinton will be a substantial presence in Denver, where her name even appears on the nomination lists. She claims that she is only motivated by a desire for “catharsis,” although no-one believes a word of it.

But, for the first few days everyone will have to play it by the rules. And later, when the Democrats have finished licking their wounds, it will be time for more bloodshed. The party’s strategists say that the Democratic Convention must tear McCain to shreds before the Republicans start their own proceedings in Minnesota next week. The Republican candidate recently admitted that he was not sure how many houses he and his wife owned (they have eight). It’s a good starting point to launch a devastating attack.