Whatever your politics, there is no doubt that last night Obama gave not only a historic speech, but a speech that defined a turning point in this election. Earlier I wrote a post about why the local Democratic Party is so strong, and in that post I mentioned our Democratic ideals, our values. Today I would like to share with you a most extraordinary article, written by a conservative, about Obama's speech last night.

In the introduction the writer, Andrew Sullivan, talks about liberalism, and how Obama spoke of liberalism, and Sullivan explains it better then I could ever have done:

It was a liberal speech, more unabashedly, unashamedly liberal than any Democratic acceptance speech since the great era of American liberalism. But it made the case for that liberalism - in the context of the decline of the American dream, and the rise of cynicism and the collapse of cultural unity. His ability to portray that liberalism as a patriotic, unifying, ennobling tradition makes him the most lethal and remarkable Democratic figure since John F Kennedy.

Locally and nationally the political discourse has never been worse. Local labor leaders and the Democratic Party are vilified for their work, and what exactly is that work? To make sure that the people who work each day in our city are paid fair wages, to make sure that all children in our city have health care, local labor leaders are not perfect, the Democratic Party is not perfect, I am far from perfect, but our shortcomings do not somehow translate into something to be feared and mocked.

I do not always agree with labor, and I have supported candidates that they did not. Make no mistake though, while I have had my disagreements with labor, I honor, respect and cherish all that labor stands for, because without our labor movement we would not be the America we are. Labor has given us a strong middle class, they have fought and died for safe working conditions, for an eight hour day, labor has ensured that no American child can be forced to work 12 hour days in factories as was once the norm in our nation.

My liberalism, the liberalism of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party, is not evil, it is not unpatriotic, it is not divisive, rather it is the exact opposite of all those things, as Obama and Sullivan point out.

And though local Democrats were divided in the primary, we are more then unified now, we stand together, and will do all we can to support a man who comes from humble roots, a man who worked hard for everything he has, a man who represents all that is great in our nation, a man who proudly shares our Democratic values and ideals, Barack Obama.

Labels: Barack Obama, Democratic Convention 2008, Jacquie Heffner