4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY OF DAILY KANSAS
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2008
POLITICS
Obama accepts nomination, 45 years after MLK Jr. speech
Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-III., prepares to address the Democratic National Convention at Invesco Field in Denver. Thursday
BY DAVID ESPO AND ROBERT FURLOW ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER — Surrounded by an enormous, adoring crowd, Barack Obama promised a clean break from the "broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush" Thursday night as he embarked on the final lap of his audacious bid to become the nation's first black president.
"America, now is not the time for small plans," the 47-year-old Illinois senator told an estimated 84,000 people packed into Invesco Field. a huge football stadium at the base of the Rocky Mountains.
He vowed to cut taxes for nearly all working-class families, end the war in Iraq and break America's dependence on Mideast oil within a decade. By contrast, he said, "John McCain has voted with President Bush 90 percent of the time," a scathing indictment of his Republican rival — on health care, education, the economy and more.
Polls indicate a close race between Obama and McCain, the Arizona senator who stands between him and a place in history. On a night 45 years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I have a Dream Speech," Obama made no overt mention of his own race.
"I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree" of a presidential candidate was as close as he came to the long-smoldering issue that may well determine the outcome of the election.
Campaigning as an advocate of a new kind of politics, he suggested at least some common ground was possible on abortion, gun control, immigration and gay marriage.
Obama delivered his 44-minute nominating acceptance speech in an unrivaled convention setting, before a crowd of unrivaled size — the filled stadium, the camera flashes in the night, the made-for-television backdrop that suggested the White House, and the thousands of convention delegates
seated around the podium in an enormous semicircle.
Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden. of Delaware, leave their convention city on Friday for Pennsylvania, first stop on an eight-week sprint to Election Day.
McCain countered with a bold move of his own, hoping to steal some of the political spotlight by spreading word that he had settled on a vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty canceled all scheduled appearances for the next two days, stoking speculation that he was the one.
Rep. John Lewis of Georgia spoke first of the anniversary of King's memorable speech.
"To tonight we are gathered here in this magnificent stadium in Denver because we still have a dream," said the Georgia lawmaker, who marched with King, supported Obama's primary rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, then switched under pressure from younger black leaders in his home state and elsewhere.
Obama's aides were interested in a different historical parallel from King — Obama was the first to deliver an outdoor convention acceptance speech since John F. Kennedy did so at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1960.
In his speech, Obama pledged to iettion Bush's economic polioy
— and replace it with his own designed to help hard-pressed families.
"I will cut taxes for 95 percent of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class," he said.
The speech didn't mention it, but Obama has called for raising taxes on upper-income Americans to help pay for expanded health care and other domestic programs.
of them."
He did not say precisely what he meant by breaking the country's dependence on Mideast oil, only that Washington has been talking about doing it for 30 years "and John McCain has been there for 26
"I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons," he added.
As he does so often while campaigning, Obama also paid tribute to McCain's heroism — the 72-year-old Arizona senator was a prisoner of war in Vietnam — then assaulted him.
judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than 90 percent of the time?
"Sen. McCain likes to talk about
Former Vice President Al Gore picked up on the same theme. "If you like the Bush-Cheney approach, John McCain's your man. If you want change, then vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden," he declared.
The much-discussed stage built for the program was evocative of the West Wing at the White House, with 24 American flags serving as a backdrop. A blue carpeted runway jutted out toward the infield, and convention delegates ringed the podium. Thousands more sat in stands around the rim of the field.
The wrap-up to the party convention blended old-fashioned
speechmaking, Hollywood-quality stagecraft and innovative, Internet age politics.
In a novel bid to extend the convention's reach, Obama's campaign decided to turn tens of thousands of partisans in the stands into instant political organizers.
The list of entertainers ran to Sheryl Crow, Stevie Wonder and will.i.am, whose Web video built around Obama's "Yes, we cat" rallying cry quickly went viral during last winter's primaries.
They were encouraged to use their cell phones to send text messages to friends as well as to call thousands of unregistered voters from lists developed by the campaign.
In all, Obama's high command said it had identified 55 million
unregistered voters across the country, about 8.1 million of them black, about 8 million Hispanic and 7.5 million between the ages of 18 and 24.
Those are key target groups for Obama as he bids to break into the all-white line of U.S. presidents and at the same time restore Democrats to the White House for the first time in eight years.
Obama's hopes of victory rely on holding onto the large Democratic base states such as California, New York, Michigan and his own Illinois, while eating into territory that voted for George W. Bush. Ohio tops that list, and Democrats have also targeted Montana, North Dakota, Virginia and New Mexico, among others, as they try to expand their Electoral College map.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
STATE
Kickapoo clinic faces funding crisis
TOPEKA, Kan. — Leaders of the Kickapoo Indian Nation have declared an emergency as they face a shortage of funds to keep a health clinic open.
The northeast Kansas tribe has asked the U.S. Indian Health Service for $150,000 to help keep the clinic open through Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year. That's when new federal funding will begin.
Angie Thomas, a nurse at the Kickapoo Nation Health Center, draws blood for Hope Waupoose, Wednesday, Aug. 20 in Horton, Kan., as part of her ongoing care of her diabetes. The health center is facing a funding crisis.
"There has been no response to our letter," said Josephine Bellonger, clinic director. "That's put us in a bind. It's really getting to a critical stage."
Robbin Williams, spokeswoman for Indian Health Service's region that includes Kansas, said the Kickapoons weren't alone this time of year.
"So close to the end of the year," Williams said, "they're life and limb."
The Kickapo's clinic serves 2,900 American Indians in Brown. Doniphan and Jackson counties in Kansas and Richardson County in southeast Nebraska. Eighty percent of the center's $1.5 million budget comes from federal sources, with tribes contributing $300,000.
Kickapoo Tribal Chairman Steve Cadue said the persistence of the health crisis leads him to despair about the future.
Dianne Dawson, spokeswoman at Indian Health Service headquarters in Rockville, Md., said the federal government struggles to keep pace with demand for health care among American Indians.
"Indian people are dying across this country from inadequate health care," he said. "It seems as though they believe a certain number of Native American people are expendable."
"There is an unmet need, obviously," she said.
Rep. Norm Dicks, a Democrat from Washington state, blames President Bush for proposing an Indian Health Service budget of $3.32 billion, or $21 million below current spending. It is estimated that those cuts would prohibit 200,000 outpatient visits to tribal clinics.
Cadue, a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, said he would use that forum to raise awareness of tribal health issues.
Officials say growing demand for services was in part to blame
for the budget shortfall. Many new patients also have serious medical conditions that tax resources.