promoted by DemFromCT - there's another candidate team on the ballot, after all ;-)
It's impossible to find, even among our detractors, anyone who can credibly assert that the 2008 Democratic National Convention was less than a stunning success. Capped off a mile high in the Colorado Rockies on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s delivery of the historic "I Have a Dream" speech, the setting was as symbolic as it was dazzling.
Dr. King's speech, however, reminds us that if we are to achieve the dreams of all humankind, there is a great leveling that must occur:
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
Dr. Martin Luther King
Clearly, extending a metaphorical appearance on the mountaintop of Denver requires a subsequent trip to the valley within the context of Dr. King's vision, and that's precisely what our candidates Barack Obama, Joe Biden and their spouses did the very next day.
Which valley might Obama/Biden have determined best illustrates how the mountain is made low, the rough places made plain?
Beaver Valley, Pennsylvania. Land of shuttered steel factories and broken dreams.
I know this place as the land of my youth, and I cannot describe for you the quiet desperation of the mothers and fathers, mine included, when the steel plants - where nearly everyone for miles around worked - closed in the 1980's. I remember the union hall employees distributing what remained of the flour, rice and powdered eggs and milk, ordinarily reserved for times of strike, to the stunned workers. I remember the futile scramble, as "for sale" signs immediately went up in every other yard, and how many of the homes were eventually just abandoned. Even now, when I return to visit, that discordant note of despair revisits me when I survey the remains of the steel town I grew up in, washed clean in the intervening years of its sulphurous pallor by the rains - a healthy sign for living, breathing beings - yet, incongruous with the ramshackle decline and decay that, in many places, still remains.
Those people who stayed surely know the meaning of hard times, but they are proud people with deeply ingrained Democratic values, and they have learned to make a living primarily by employing one another. In Beaver Valley, for instance, buying an ice cream for someone, like Barack did for Michelle on their first date, isn't only an act of love, but an essential act of service to one another.
Check out Joe's double-handed helping, courtesy of Barack, at the Windmill Ice Cream Shop in Aliquippa!
In 2002, the per capita personal income in Beaver County was only $26,357, so the resilient, hard-working people in Beaver Valley are exceptionally receptive to better-paying job opportunities. Places like the Pennsylvania Biodiesel Plant in Monaca, which makes fuel from poultry fat, are a coup for the community and a source of pride.
Joe was particularly happy to hear that the poultry fat is shipped in from Delaware!
These opportunities for the valley, however, are still relatively rare and, for the most part, winning is only something done by the Pittsburgh Steelers, a MAJOR source of regional pride.
Steelers coach, Mike Tomlin, holding his daughter, autographs a football FOR BARACK while Joe looks on!
Imagine, then, their surprise when the locals learned, after witnessing all the pomp and ceremony in Denver, that the Obama/Biden team had chosen Beaver Valley, of all places, to kick off the Democratic Presidential campaign! Despite their shock, preparation was quickly underway.
Workers construct platforms in front of a gazebo donated to the town of Beaver by Ron Howard, after its use in the 1986 movie "Gung Ho" which was filmed in the area.
On Friday evening, the team arrived at Irvine Park in the tiny town of Beaver and Barack delivered a 30 minute speech intended to revive the hopes and lost dreams of the crowd of 8,000 (believe me, it was packed!). The local paper reported:
Obama reached out with themes that resonate not only in the county seat, but all across the country, including families wondering what the future holds for their children and grandchildren, wondering of the fate of generations to come.
"Are they going to be able to live out the American dream?" Obama said people are questioning.
Obama derided the policies of President Bush over the past eight years and said government shouldn’t be fighting for big business, banks and oil companies.
Instead, government should be fighting for the common man, nurses, steelworkers, firefighters, Obama said, the crowd roaring as he said, "If we’re fighting for them, there is nothing we can’t do."
He also spoke about ending a dependence on foreign oil, and cheers erupted as he said he wanted to reopen steel mills to manufacture alternate energy sources, including wind turbines and solar panels.
I've talked to my relatives who are still there. He was as well received as reported by the local paper.
In the end, when Senator Obama told the crowd the election wasn't about him, but about "what’s in your heart and in your minds in terms of where you want to take America" - I know the crowd was certain about what they'd like to see happen. But I also know, after all this time of feeling left behind with their broken dreams, they also think a question borne of cynicism, "Dare we hope?"
Good people at DKos, I hope you will do all you can to help lift our brothers and sisters in the valleys everywhere - give them the encouragement they need to believe again and to join us in our hopefulness.