Geraldine_Thompson's Blog

Senator Hillary Clinton asked all at the convention to remember that in order to win, you have to keep going.  She said Harriett Tubman told people escaping to freedom to keep going, even when they heard the dogs barking.  She said keep going even when others want to take you back into servitude.  Senator Clinton stressed in her key note speech last night that Democrats have to keep going if we want students trained to compete in a global economy.  She said it's important  to keep going so that women will receive equal pay for equal work and seniors will be able to retire and having savings for their golden years.  She asked if her supporters were in the race just because of her or were they there because of the soldiers in Iraq and people who can't get medical care because they don't have insurance.  She made the point that the campaign was about all the people who are locked out of the American dream.  Therefore, she asked her supporters to unite behind Barack Obama and return a Democrat to the White House in 2008.

In Senator Clinton's words, though she did not break the glass ceiling, she put 18 million cracks in it.  She ran an awesome race and will serve as a role model for my daughters and granddaugthers who are trying to find their place in the world.  Democrats on Tuesday addressed the things that are important to the Party and to Americans.  Speakers before Mrs. Clinton addressed health care, equal pay, retirement benefits, funding for higher education, the freedom to collective bargain and join a union and a higher minimum wage.

To prepare for the future, Americans were urged to manufacture hybrid vehicles made by American workers.  We were encouraged to pay well qualified teachers and provide them with the resources necessary to prepare students to compete with nations like China, which is going for the gold.  Democrats were asked to focus on the future and not the past in a 21st Centure economy. 

Former Senator Bob Graham spoke to Florida Democrats this morning at breakfast and stated that  in his 40 years of service to Florida, this is his 10th Democratic Convention.  He reminded the group that John F. Kennedy gave his acceptance speech in the Los Angeles Coliseum, the largest stadium in America at the time.  He said he thought it is significant that Barack Obama will deliver his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at the MiIe High Stadium.  Though he served with John McCain for 18 years, Senator Graham asked Florida Delegates to support Senator Barack Obama who will help Americans begin the process of restoring our economy and our standing in the world.  Tonight Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden will speak followed by former President Bill Clinton.