An Unabashed 'Hope-Monger'

The pundits have been saying that Sen. Barack Obama lost his stride at the most recent presidential debates, but there was no evidence of that Tuesday when he made a passionate, forceful speech at the Take Back America conference.

What a standing-room-only-crowd heard in the International Ballroom of the Washington Hilton was the kind of sweeping, inspiring embrace of progressive principles that has been his trademark. It included a firm denunciation of the conservative philosophy that had dominated Washington politics before Democrats took control of the Congress in 2006, which he described as “a philosophy of trickle-down and you're on your own that says that government has no role in the challenges that we face.”

The adherents to that governing philosophy “think they own this government, but we are here to say that our government is not for sale and we are taking it back, right here, right now.”

People who have lost their jobs because of globalization shouldn’t be told by their government that they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, Obama said. “When we see veterans here in Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, foraging through dumpsters because they're homeless” because the federal government will not adequately fund social service programs to help them, “that diminishes all of our patriotism.”

"We believe that a better America is possible," he continued. "The time for a can't-do, won't-do, won't-even-try politics is over. The time for selfish politics is over. The time for a politicis of fear is over. The time for a politics of division is over."

He also said that he has no apologies for hammering the theme of home, saying that some members of the media have called him “a hope-monger.” Hope, he said, is what will fuel the strength and patience needed for us to change the nation’s politics. Evoking his rapid rise as an Illinois state senator to the United States Senate, “The only reason I am standing here today is because of hope,” he said. “On paper, it is impossible that I am here as a United States senator.”

Obama repeated his position that troops should be brought home from Iraq “not a year from now, not a month from now, but now.” He said that Democrats and progressives should keep the pressure on Republicans who have yet to vote for measures that would end the war. “We will call them, we will knock on their doors,” he said. We will bring the troops home.”

He also touted his recently released health care plan, and while he did not go into details, he promised that it would end the era of private insurers and pharmaceutical companies dictating access to care. He said he would tell the insurance and drug companies that “while they get a seat at the table, they don’t get to buy every chair.”