I was inclined to re-focus on Nigeria this week. On the other hand, I have been watching the historic Democratic National Convention (DNC) and I thought it would be useful sharing my thoughts on that exercise with our readers. So necessity, as they say became the mother of invention. This week we will review the DNC, and see what lessons the Nigerian nation can learn from that remarkable democratic exercise. And we will do this against the background of possible short and medium term Nigerian scenarios.
The democrats put up a real show in Denver, Colorado last week. I stayed up between 1 and 4am (Nigerian time) on each of the convention days. I wanted to carefully notice all the nuances of the process that would determine whether Barack Obama would succeed in seizing the opportunity of the convention to fully reveal himself to the American people. At the end of the week, I believe he succeeded beyond measure, and victory in November is now a distinct possibility. Senator Ted Kennedy’s mere appearance on convention day one was itself a major boost to democratic spirits. The old Senator is ill and has had brain surgery, yet he flew to Denver and gave a powerful speech to the democratic partisans gathered. But the highlight of the night was Michelle Obama.
Her task was to introduce herself to the American people, persuade them she was first lady material and tell the story of herself and Barack such that America would trust them with power. She did excellently. I was impressed by her intellect, grace and grit, and at the end of the day, her story and that of her husband and two daughters was one all Americans of all races and backgrounds could identify with. Day 2 was Hillary Clinton show, and she seized the moment. Hillary in my view gave the best speech of her life-passionate, articulate, bold and strategic. She just about eliminated any Republican hopes of reaping from a divided Democratic house, and positioned herself as the major power broker in the Democratic Party no matter what happens in this election. This lady is sure going to be around!
Day 3 saw the return of the master-Bill Clinton! He defined the issues in this race very clearly-a republican party that had squandered both economic and security gains of the previous democratic regime, and whose ideas were just wrong, and endorsed Barack Obama as ready to rule. The Clintonite passion, empathy and depth of communication skills was brought to bear as Clinton reminded Americans that Republicans had questioned his “foreign policy credentials” before he was elected in 1992 just as they were doing with Obama now and basically tore to shreds the carefully designed republican attack platform to rapturous applause. Joe Biden also gave an enthusiastic speech attacking John McCain as only he had the credibility to do.
On the final convention night, over 80,000 enthusiasts were packed in the stadium and hundreds or thousands more were on queues outside trying to get in. The rest of America and millions elsewhere were watching on television sets all over the world-over 40 million Americans according to the New York Times, more than watched the Olympic opening ceremony or Academy awards this year. Barack Obama was ready. I’m convinced he completed the demolition of the case the republicans had prepared against him, which Bill and Hillary Clinton (and that night Al Gore who had reminded Americans that President Abraham Lincoln’s cumulative experience before his election to the US Presidency was just about equivalent to Obama’s) had already severely damaged.
He outlined a clear economic and energy plan, with details; he attacked McCain’s touted judgment on foreign policy outlining instances-the Iraq war, Afghanistan, timeline for troop withdrawal from Iraq etc in which he was right and McCain wrong, and challenged him to a debate precisely on that turf; he destroyed republican attempts to portray him as merely a celebrity leaning on his work as a social and community activist and brought the whole stadium to tears. There was no African-American in that stadium who was not teary-eyed. I can confirm that I was happily crying along in my family lounge. The co-incidence of that day with the 45th anniversary of the “I have a dream” speech of Martin Luther King was too pungent to be missed. Indeed America has come a long way, and no matter what happens in November, America has proven that indeed it is the land of the possible. I look forward to a Barack Obama presidency.
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