One guy works on the street. One works on the concrete floor of the Invesco Field.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Journalists without a home
One guy works on the street. One works on the concrete floor of the Invesco Field.
Dems in Denver: Generation Gap or A New Generation of Hope?
Denver – August 28
Much has been made of the friction in the Democratic Party coming into this Convention here in Denver: the Kennedy clan vs. the Clinton clan; Barack vs. Bill; Bill vs. Hillary; the Hillary supporters (or “followers,” as pundit and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanen put it) and mysterious forces within the Democratic Party which kept her from getting the nomination. Those real or perceived squabbles were resolved Wednesday night in a dramatic and emotional display of Party unity. If it wasn’t real, it was at least a good show.
Everyone rose to the occasion, and if you think about it in terms of the generational shift in power, it’s not hard to see why it was painful, divisive and melodramatic. This is my third convention, and it was the first time that the action inside the Hall was more interesting than what went on outside the Hall. I would suggest this week in Denver marks a permanent shift in the Washington power structure from my generation that came of age in the 60s to those who were born in the 60s. I believe we did something right during that decade because we produced people like Barack Obama.
It was people like the Kennedys, still linked to WWII, who heard the voices of civil rights activists in the 50s and early 60s and took those first important steps for minorities. Life for Obama’s mother and her African husband must have been difficult, even then. I remember when interracial couples did not appear often in public, even in the North. But the Kansan and the Kenyan defied convention, which must have put a lot of strain on the relationship.
It was my generation (which includes the Clintons, Jesse Jackson and many others) that continued this fight for rights of minorities, and, along the way, added women, gays and lesbians, and the disabled to the list. After forty years, this inclusivity has changed the face of American politics and been an inspiration to the rest of the world.
It must have been really hard for Hillary to give up the chance for another “first” for women. After all, she’s paid her dues, and she’s still young (these days 61 is young) and she has acquired so much knowledge. What she didn’t count on (who could?) was the fact that the miracle generation created in the 60s is ready. Where did the time go? It hardly seems possible; therefore, it was said that Obama was too young (he’s older than Bill Clinton when he was elected President); that it was a woman’s turn (is there a rule that women get their chance before black men?); that he was “unelectable” for either specific or vague reasons.
When all is said and done, though, the Democratic Party should be proud, our maligned 60s generation should be proud and American should be proud. Barack Obama is the new face of America, and all that so many people worked on for during the past 50 years has made it possible. The rest of the world is watching in amazed delight and with hope – hope that what this fascinating younger generation can continue what was started at least a half-century ago will be the start of a great new world.
Much has been made of the friction in the Democratic Party coming into this Convention here in Denver: the Kennedy clan vs. the Clinton clan; Barack vs. Bill; Bill vs. Hillary; the Hillary supporters (or “followers,” as pundit and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanen put it) and mysterious forces within the Democratic Party which kept her from getting the nomination. Those real or perceived squabbles were resolved Wednesday night in a dramatic and emotional display of Party unity. If it wasn’t real, it was at least a good show.
Everyone rose to the occasion, and if you think about it in terms of the generational shift in power, it’s not hard to see why it was painful, divisive and melodramatic. This is my third convention, and it was the first time that the action inside the Hall was more interesting than what went on outside the Hall. I would suggest this week in Denver marks a permanent shift in the Washington power structure from my generation that came of age in the 60s to those who were born in the 60s. I believe we did something right during that decade because we produced people like Barack Obama.
It was people like the Kennedys, still linked to WWII, who heard the voices of civil rights activists in the 50s and early 60s and took those first important steps for minorities. Life for Obama’s mother and her African husband must have been difficult, even then. I remember when interracial couples did not appear often in public, even in the North. But the Kansan and the Kenyan defied convention, which must have put a lot of strain on the relationship.
It was my generation (which includes the Clintons, Jesse Jackson and many others) that continued this fight for rights of minorities, and, along the way, added women, gays and lesbians, and the disabled to the list. After forty years, this inclusivity has changed the face of American politics and been an inspiration to the rest of the world.
It must have been really hard for Hillary to give up the chance for another “first” for women. After all, she’s paid her dues, and she’s still young (these days 61 is young) and she has acquired so much knowledge. What she didn’t count on (who could?) was the fact that the miracle generation created in the 60s is ready. Where did the time go? It hardly seems possible; therefore, it was said that Obama was too young (he’s older than Bill Clinton when he was elected President); that it was a woman’s turn (is there a rule that women get their chance before black men?); that he was “unelectable” for either specific or vague reasons.
When all is said and done, though, the Democratic Party should be proud, our maligned 60s generation should be proud and American should be proud. Barack Obama is the new face of America, and all that so many people worked on for during the past 50 years has made it possible. The rest of the world is watching in amazed delight and with hope – hope that what this fascinating younger generation can continue what was started at least a half-century ago will be the start of a great new world.
Where have all the protesters gone? Gone to Denver Every One!
Downtown Denver, Aug. 24
As I walked down the 16th Street Mall toward Union Station on this hot Sunday afternoon, I found myself face to face with them. Thousands of protesters were headed to the Pepsi Center to register their complaints. Their signs, t-shirts, puppets and other communication methods gave some indication of their causes, which boiled down to two major categories: the war in Iraq and health care.
Messages included the usual and the creative: “Peace out man”; “Send texts, not troops”; “Drop beats, not bombs,” “Peace please”; “Fund the wounded, not the war”; “Stop murder for oil.” Some offered alternatives to war: “Healthcare, not warfare”; “Make out, not war”; “Books, not bombs”; “Grow pumpkins, not wars.”
Some minced no words: “Arrest Bush” or “Fuck the war.” Some were verbose: “Misleading Congress and the American people in an attempt to destroy Medicare,” and “We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love; We must meet physical force with soul force.”
One, no doubt inspired by the “Recreate ‘68” Website, was downright provocative: “No hope in capitalism; disrupt the DNC.” One man carried a giant puppet of a dark-haired woman. LaDuke, the White Earth resident who was Ralph Nader’s running mate in the 1996 and 2000 elections, was apparently the person symbolized, since her photo was glued onto the puppet’s chest, along with the word “Peace.”
My personal favorite was a black t-shirt with a simple, but elegant message: “Fix shit up.”
One young man carried a sign advertising the Website “worldcantwait.org.” When asked what it was the world can’t wait for, he looked at the sign as if in surprise and said he really didn’t know. Someone just gave him the sign.
Members of the well-respected and interesting women’s activist group “Code Pink” were easy to spot in their pink outfits, many on pink bicycles.
Hordes of law enforcement officials in full riot gear, on horses, motorcycles, bicycles or on foot, followed along. They were ready for terrorists. The demonstrators seemed ready for a party.
In fact, that’s what happened later on the front lawn of the Capitol building at the end of the 16th Street Mall.
By late afternoon, about a hundred demonstrators were left chopping garlic, cooking lentils, grilling veggies and slicing whole grain bread for all in attendance. Nearby panhandlers, however, sat on a retaining wall and declined the free meal.
One young woman wearing a Nader button and helping clean up the plastic dishes said she’s unhappy with the health care plans of both parties. “Nader’s is a single-payer plan,” she said. “That’s what we need.” A young man said he thought there should be more than two candidates in the upcoming debates. Several young people were upset that Obama never mentioned getting the contracted soldiers, such as those who work for Blackwater, out of Iraq.
A middle-aged man with a gray beard holding up an Obama sign for the benefit of those driving by, said he came from California with Nader and Obama campaign paraphernalia. He smiled. “It’s all about the slogans, isn’t it?” he said.
Perhaps these uncertain demonstrators, who exhibit more dissatisfaction than anger, unlike the truly angry people in Los Angeles in 2000 and Boston in 2004 are more representative of what the Democratic Party was like during the past eight years than now. During those two campaigns, the party offered detailed policy fixes while ignoring those who felt disenfranchised. This year, the party is offering a sort of vague, generalized “hope” based on anger at the past eight years, while these demonstrators worry about the devil that’s the details.
In a year when the balance may have lost focus on these details because the platforms of the two Democratic candidates were so similar, these outsiders may serve the purpose of keeping the eyes of Democrats on the prize. Charisma, and its flip side, character attacks, distract us from those details, but if Obama does get elected, those details will become important. That may be their message.
It was reported that the last remaining demonstrators slept on the Capitol grounds in the shape of a peace symbol last night. If that’s their final statement, they have served their purpose.
Louise Mengelkoch is a professor of journalism at Bemidji State University. She is serving as a faculty leader for The Washington Center, which has brought almost 400 college students to Denver for a two-week program centered on the Democratic National Convention. Her Convention blog is at www.demsindenver.blogspot.com.
As I walked down the 16th Street Mall toward Union Station on this hot Sunday afternoon, I found myself face to face with them. Thousands of protesters were headed to the Pepsi Center to register their complaints. Their signs, t-shirts, puppets and other communication methods gave some indication of their causes, which boiled down to two major categories: the war in Iraq and health care.
Messages included the usual and the creative: “Peace out man”; “Send texts, not troops”; “Drop beats, not bombs,” “Peace please”; “Fund the wounded, not the war”; “Stop murder for oil.” Some offered alternatives to war: “Healthcare, not warfare”; “Make out, not war”; “Books, not bombs”; “Grow pumpkins, not wars.”
Some minced no words: “Arrest Bush” or “Fuck the war.” Some were verbose: “Misleading Congress and the American people in an attempt to destroy Medicare,” and “We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love; We must meet physical force with soul force.”
One, no doubt inspired by the “Recreate ‘68” Website, was downright provocative: “No hope in capitalism; disrupt the DNC.” One man carried a giant puppet of a dark-haired woman. LaDuke, the White Earth resident who was Ralph Nader’s running mate in the 1996 and 2000 elections, was apparently the person symbolized, since her photo was glued onto the puppet’s chest, along with the word “Peace.”
My personal favorite was a black t-shirt with a simple, but elegant message: “Fix shit up.”
One young man carried a sign advertising the Website “worldcantwait.org.” When asked what it was the world can’t wait for, he looked at the sign as if in surprise and said he really didn’t know. Someone just gave him the sign.
Members of the well-respected and interesting women’s activist group “Code Pink” were easy to spot in their pink outfits, many on pink bicycles.
Hordes of law enforcement officials in full riot gear, on horses, motorcycles, bicycles or on foot, followed along. They were ready for terrorists. The demonstrators seemed ready for a party.
In fact, that’s what happened later on the front lawn of the Capitol building at the end of the 16th Street Mall.
By late afternoon, about a hundred demonstrators were left chopping garlic, cooking lentils, grilling veggies and slicing whole grain bread for all in attendance. Nearby panhandlers, however, sat on a retaining wall and declined the free meal.
One young woman wearing a Nader button and helping clean up the plastic dishes said she’s unhappy with the health care plans of both parties. “Nader’s is a single-payer plan,” she said. “That’s what we need.” A young man said he thought there should be more than two candidates in the upcoming debates. Several young people were upset that Obama never mentioned getting the contracted soldiers, such as those who work for Blackwater, out of Iraq.
A middle-aged man with a gray beard holding up an Obama sign for the benefit of those driving by, said he came from California with Nader and Obama campaign paraphernalia. He smiled. “It’s all about the slogans, isn’t it?” he said.
Perhaps these uncertain demonstrators, who exhibit more dissatisfaction than anger, unlike the truly angry people in Los Angeles in 2000 and Boston in 2004 are more representative of what the Democratic Party was like during the past eight years than now. During those two campaigns, the party offered detailed policy fixes while ignoring those who felt disenfranchised. This year, the party is offering a sort of vague, generalized “hope” based on anger at the past eight years, while these demonstrators worry about the devil that’s the details.
In a year when the balance may have lost focus on these details because the platforms of the two Democratic candidates were so similar, these outsiders may serve the purpose of keeping the eyes of Democrats on the prize. Charisma, and its flip side, character attacks, distract us from those details, but if Obama does get elected, those details will become important. That may be their message.
It was reported that the last remaining demonstrators slept on the Capitol grounds in the shape of a peace symbol last night. If that’s their final statement, they have served their purpose.
Louise Mengelkoch is a professor of journalism at Bemidji State University. She is serving as a faculty leader for The Washington Center, which has brought almost 400 college students to Denver for a two-week program centered on the Democratic National Convention. Her Convention blog is at www.demsindenver.blogspot.com.
Indonesian journalists
Putra and Wahyu work for the most-watched Indonesian television news network. They interviewed me for their news show, and also some of my students. They both have wives back home who are due to have babies in early September! Get home, Putral and Wahyu!
The Best Political Science Class Ever: College Students Descend Upon Denver to be Eyewitnesses to History
It’s hard to say if Denver is ready for this historic Democratic National Convention, but the 370 college students I’m with are not only ready, but they’ve already started their volunteer work, whether it’s with media outlets such as CNN or security for the Pepsi Center or interest groups such as Emily’s List or dozens of other organizations in need of live bodies and willing minds.
The students, along with some 30 faculty leaders and 20 staff of The Washington Center staff, which created this program, are staying in dorms at Regis University, a lovely campus designated as a national arboretum and located about four miles northwest of the Pepsi Center, where the Convention will be held.
We’ve been here a week already, being educated about the players and issues by a long list of prominent speakers, including Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, DNC Chairman Howard Dean, David O’Connor of the Secret Service and Steve Scully of C-Span. We also have Prof. Tom Cronin of Colorado College as our faculty director and Prof. Michael Genovese of Loyola Marymount University as our scholar in residence. Needless to say, our brains are full.
It’s fascinating to have their help to step back and look at this intense campaign from the distance of a social scientist and from a historical perspective. Prof. Cronin gave a lecture about contradictions and paradoxes, and how they affect our political thinking. For example, he pointed out that Americans seem to want a president who is a “common person, yet with uncommon genius.” We want someone who wields power, but yet we fear that power. We want someone with complete self-confidence, yet humble; someone who unifies, but is independently decisive; some who is “above politics, yet willing to do ‘business with the devil.’” It’s been a roller coaster ride for us all in trying to find this Platonic ideal, and it probably won’t happen anytime soon.
We heard from T. R. Reid, a Washington Post political reporter who has covered 13 conventions and dozens of elections and conventions in other countries. He said covering American conventions used to be fun, but it’s not anymore. “There’s no time for reflection, for partying or for composing good writing,” he said. Reporters have to do it all, including their own photos and video. “It’s not like it used to be.”
We heard what it used to be like from a different perspective than reporters. Wally Podrazik, the DNCC director of media logistics, reminded us that it was exactly 100 years ago that Denver hosted the last (and only other) Democratic Convention in its history. The candidate was William Jennings Bryan, the great orator. The featured technologies of the time for the media were the telegraph, a telephone filing center in the basement and 3,500 incandescent lights. He added that, at that time, the nominee did not appear at the convention. It was considered in poor taste. It wasn’t until Franklin D. Roosevelt was the nominee in 1932 that the speech was broadcast live on radio.
Between lectures and volunteer work, our students have gotten a preview of what’s coming Monday. We toured both the Pepsi Center, where the Convention proceedings will be held, and Invesco Field, where Sen. Obama will give his acceptance speech. Since Invesco had a football game scheduled for Friday night, there are only five days to complete the significant modifications to the field itself.
The Pepsi Center appeared ready for the event. The platform looked more like a stage set for television than anything intended for a live audience. The intense blue lights lent a strangely eerie cast to the largely empty hall. The networks (including Fox TV) have their skyboxes labeled and ready for action. The radio networks have their tables in the halls. The bloggers are relegated to a tent in the perimeter. The building is crawling with volunteers, all earnest but still a bit lost. They are, however, definitely excited.
Josh Peterson, a BSU student, and I are the only Minnesotans in our Washington Center group. Peterson is volunteering with CNN, and has already begun work with them doing the endless preparation for the biggest news political news event in four years. Our small group also includes a news anchor and cameraman from the most-watched television news show in Indonesia.
Tomorrow: Who are the protesters and what are they protesting?
The students, along with some 30 faculty leaders and 20 staff of The Washington Center staff, which created this program, are staying in dorms at Regis University, a lovely campus designated as a national arboretum and located about four miles northwest of the Pepsi Center, where the Convention will be held.
We’ve been here a week already, being educated about the players and issues by a long list of prominent speakers, including Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, DNC Chairman Howard Dean, David O’Connor of the Secret Service and Steve Scully of C-Span. We also have Prof. Tom Cronin of Colorado College as our faculty director and Prof. Michael Genovese of Loyola Marymount University as our scholar in residence. Needless to say, our brains are full.
It’s fascinating to have their help to step back and look at this intense campaign from the distance of a social scientist and from a historical perspective. Prof. Cronin gave a lecture about contradictions and paradoxes, and how they affect our political thinking. For example, he pointed out that Americans seem to want a president who is a “common person, yet with uncommon genius.” We want someone who wields power, but yet we fear that power. We want someone with complete self-confidence, yet humble; someone who unifies, but is independently decisive; some who is “above politics, yet willing to do ‘business with the devil.’” It’s been a roller coaster ride for us all in trying to find this Platonic ideal, and it probably won’t happen anytime soon.
We heard from T. R. Reid, a Washington Post political reporter who has covered 13 conventions and dozens of elections and conventions in other countries. He said covering American conventions used to be fun, but it’s not anymore. “There’s no time for reflection, for partying or for composing good writing,” he said. Reporters have to do it all, including their own photos and video. “It’s not like it used to be.”
We heard what it used to be like from a different perspective than reporters. Wally Podrazik, the DNCC director of media logistics, reminded us that it was exactly 100 years ago that Denver hosted the last (and only other) Democratic Convention in its history. The candidate was William Jennings Bryan, the great orator. The featured technologies of the time for the media were the telegraph, a telephone filing center in the basement and 3,500 incandescent lights. He added that, at that time, the nominee did not appear at the convention. It was considered in poor taste. It wasn’t until Franklin D. Roosevelt was the nominee in 1932 that the speech was broadcast live on radio.
Between lectures and volunteer work, our students have gotten a preview of what’s coming Monday. We toured both the Pepsi Center, where the Convention proceedings will be held, and Invesco Field, where Sen. Obama will give his acceptance speech. Since Invesco had a football game scheduled for Friday night, there are only five days to complete the significant modifications to the field itself.
The Pepsi Center appeared ready for the event. The platform looked more like a stage set for television than anything intended for a live audience. The intense blue lights lent a strangely eerie cast to the largely empty hall. The networks (including Fox TV) have their skyboxes labeled and ready for action. The radio networks have their tables in the halls. The bloggers are relegated to a tent in the perimeter. The building is crawling with volunteers, all earnest but still a bit lost. They are, however, definitely excited.
Josh Peterson, a BSU student, and I are the only Minnesotans in our Washington Center group. Peterson is volunteering with CNN, and has already begun work with them doing the endless preparation for the biggest news political news event in four years. Our small group also includes a news anchor and cameraman from the most-watched television news show in Indonesia.
Tomorrow: Who are the protesters and what are they protesting?
Police on Parade
Somehow cops on bikes are not as threatening as Guys on Trucks with assault weapons.
Mike sells Obama buttons
This Chicago college student is participating in the convention in his own way. Way to go, Mike!
Is Denver Ready? On the Streets This Weekend
Saturday morning
Downtown Denver, 16th Street Mall & Tremont
Two young men in Barnes & Noble shirts wash the large picture windows of the store with lambswool on the end of long poles. Dozens of police in black with assault weapons walk down the mall in groups or ride black bicycles or Segways. They somberly search through the coleus, pansies and vinca vines in the hundreds of decorative pots lining the street and hanging from baskets. People of all ages in yellow shirts appear to be volunteer greeters for the host committee. Those in the purple shirts pick up trash, or drive by in purple trucks with watering equipment for all the flowers.
“Welcome to Denver” banners hang from the streetlights. A pair of street musicians strum guitars while singing golden oldies such as “Bye Bye Love.” A city employee applies an information sticker on a cigarette disposal bin. A middle-aged man in shorts and tennis shoes fires up his waffle iron for his vendor booth. He sells waffles with cherries, strawberries, tart cranberry and pineapple sauce and even kiwi fruit. His wife sits nearby in a director’s chair, sipping a Starbuck’s. She works for Denver Public Schools and says she worried about how to get to work next week because many streets will be blocked off, the bus schedule is changed and the light rail will not be in service.
A man buying a strawberry waffle is out of sorts because he’d planned to take his kids to Elitch Gardens amusement park on the edge of downtown. But it’s closed, he says, in preparation for the media party tonight. A tall, thin man with a gray beard asks if his waffle can be ready quickly. “I have an appointment with Obama at the Pepsi Center,” he jokes.
Fleets of helicopters provide a constant background buzz. Sirens are heard more frequently than they should be on a Saturday morning in a city this size. A skinny 22-year-old man named Mike holds a large board covered with Obama buttons, all designed by him. He’s a college student from Chicago majoring in graphic design who is visiting his girlfriend in Denver and thought he’d make some extra money. “I’m not voting for Obama,” he announces, “if he picks Hillary for his running mate.” When he is told that the announcement has been made and it’s Biden, he says he’s okay with that, and Obama will get his vote. Business is brisk but he finally gets the bum’s rush from a policeman.
He yells out to me as he escorted away. “Stop by again. I’ll be here all week.” He grins and turns around. Later I see him holding his board up to a car window showing his wares to the driver. A policeman across the street on a Segway ignores him.
The Convention is beginning.
Downtown Denver, 16th Street Mall & Tremont
Two young men in Barnes & Noble shirts wash the large picture windows of the store with lambswool on the end of long poles. Dozens of police in black with assault weapons walk down the mall in groups or ride black bicycles or Segways. They somberly search through the coleus, pansies and vinca vines in the hundreds of decorative pots lining the street and hanging from baskets. People of all ages in yellow shirts appear to be volunteer greeters for the host committee. Those in the purple shirts pick up trash, or drive by in purple trucks with watering equipment for all the flowers.
“Welcome to Denver” banners hang from the streetlights. A pair of street musicians strum guitars while singing golden oldies such as “Bye Bye Love.” A city employee applies an information sticker on a cigarette disposal bin. A middle-aged man in shorts and tennis shoes fires up his waffle iron for his vendor booth. He sells waffles with cherries, strawberries, tart cranberry and pineapple sauce and even kiwi fruit. His wife sits nearby in a director’s chair, sipping a Starbuck’s. She works for Denver Public Schools and says she worried about how to get to work next week because many streets will be blocked off, the bus schedule is changed and the light rail will not be in service.
A man buying a strawberry waffle is out of sorts because he’d planned to take his kids to Elitch Gardens amusement park on the edge of downtown. But it’s closed, he says, in preparation for the media party tonight. A tall, thin man with a gray beard asks if his waffle can be ready quickly. “I have an appointment with Obama at the Pepsi Center,” he jokes.
Fleets of helicopters provide a constant background buzz. Sirens are heard more frequently than they should be on a Saturday morning in a city this size. A skinny 22-year-old man named Mike holds a large board covered with Obama buttons, all designed by him. He’s a college student from Chicago majoring in graphic design who is visiting his girlfriend in Denver and thought he’d make some extra money. “I’m not voting for Obama,” he announces, “if he picks Hillary for his running mate.” When he is told that the announcement has been made and it’s Biden, he says he’s okay with that, and Obama will get his vote. Business is brisk but he finally gets the bum’s rush from a policeman.
He yells out to me as he escorted away. “Stop by again. I’ll be here all week.” He grins and turns around. Later I see him holding his board up to a car window showing his wares to the driver. A policeman across the street on a Segway ignores him.
The Convention is beginning.
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