Republicans have owned the issue of family values for many election cycles. Primarily because they were able to define what family values meant and Democrats never challenged them on it. Throughout this campaign Obama has tried to address this neglect on the part of his party.
Obama's views on family have been on his sleeve since, it seems forever. His books, his campaign, the Democratic National Convention have all displayed his deep rooted belief that a family, in whatever shape it may be, is important. And that the nation thrives when the family is the center piece of policy.
For Republicans, family is part of their triangle of God, Country and Family with Family as the base. For Obama, it seems Family is actually the top of his pyramid with God and Country providing the support.
Democrats have never been more together than now. We Americans don't have royalty but we do admire and elevate some families to become Families. And Democrats now have the advantage of having several important Families to provide the stabilizing effect that a political party needs.
No one can deny the importance of the Clintons. Regardless of the election results, they are a dynamic couple that will have influence for years to come. Hillary's fight for women and equality has even, it seems, influenced the Republicans in their decision making process.
The Gores also are an important Democratic family that has shaped national politics with regards to accepting global warming as important to all the world, even Republicans and not just liberals.
The Democratic Convention is not only introduced America to the family-man story of Joe Biden, but also the story of Obama which, in today's America, is closer to what most of us have experienced in our daily lives than the Beaver Cleaver family that Republicans still seem to push. And he and Joe gave the real straight talk on what American families are feeling today. They know what the American families are experiencing.
And over all these families are the Kennedys. The grandparents of the Democratic family in terms of their importance to the party. Seeing Ted Kennedy defy concerns of his health to appear and give that fiery speech on the opening day of the convention won the day. Sacrifice is something the Kennedy family is know for and Teddy drove that point home by appearing and ensuring the leadership of the party passed to Obama. After Teddy's appearance, even if the PUMAs were as strong as the press wanted them to be, there could be no revolt.
Like many, I not only watched the convention, but read Tweets, visited several IRC chat rooms and cruised websites. Obama and Biden really scored for Democratic family values by allowing the public a view of their families with their pre-speech videos. In the chat rooms I was in, I read many people commenting on how wonderful Obama's and Joe's mothers seemed, how much respect they had for Obama's grandparents, and how much they loved the wedding photo of Michelle and Obama relaxed affectionately on the bench. Joe Biden scored with the obvious affection that his son had not only for his dad but his mother, whom he said they all married. And when both families were on stage, you could easily see that despite any surface differences, the similarities ran deep and true. These were two families that would be in the Whitehouse. Something that we haven't felt as a nation for a long time.
Unfortunately for the Republicans and therefore America, they have no political family that can keep their party from running off track, whether you believe in their views or not. Ronald Reagan was lost to Republicans prematurely and they have managed to keep Nancy off the national stage after her opposition to President Bush's policy on stem cells. The Bush family should be in position to keep a steadying hand on the party but the wrong Gov Bush rose to power. I've never think 'family' when I think of this Bush Presidency and that goes double for when I think of the Cheneys.
So instead of families, Republicans have individuals that influence their party. Guys like Rush, Tom, Karl, Shaun, Billy. They act like a bunch of adolescent boys running around, TPing houses, cow tipping, writing their initials in the snow, regardless of the consequences. They are about individualism and influence, not family. Family to them is a phrase you throw out to get the Religious Right to fall into line or scare independents.
I look forward to America and the world experiencing the Democratic definition of family in the next, hopefully 4, 8, 16 years. I don't want the Republicans to be too weak because that may lead to the kinds of ego-tripping that the Republicans displayed since they took over the party, especially when they let Tom Delay's and Karl Rove's methods become their model. The positive tension between parties is good for America. And that will ultimately be good for the individual American family.