Entertainment for Insomniacs
Created | Updated Aug 11, 2004
Egon- watching late night television so you don't have to
Pages from Ceefax and Teleshopping have been pre-empted in favour of coverage of the Democratic National Convention. Entertainment for Insomniacs apologises for the inconvenience
This week, I've been watching, and listening to the Democratic National Convention from Boston, Massachussets. There's live coverage between 1 and 4am from Radio Five Live, presented by Up All Night's Rhod Sharp, while BBC Parliament has picked up C-Span's TV Coverage pretty much all day, and the ITV News Channel broadcasts the speakers during the middle of the night.
On Monday night, Bill Clinton gave an awesome speech, demonstrating the passion and rhetoric which has always made him so popular. He's a great speaker, and his criticisms of the Bush administration, of the programmes being underfunded while the richest of the rich get richer, of the failings in Republican policy since 2000. Clinton had many failings, but he's always been capable of barnstorming rhetoric, and the fact that Clinton has endorsed John Kerry so openly will count in Kerry's favour- the fact that Al Gore didn't utilise Clinton during his 2000 campaign is one reason why that battle was so close.
If you want to read why I was so energised by Clinton's speech, read this transcript.
Gore himself actually opened the convention, but was as uninspiring as four years ago, while former president Jimmy Carter spoke eloquently about Bush's failings.
A game I sometimes play with fellow students during American politics lectures is called 'Who will be the first _____ president of the US?' where the missing word is normally something like 'black', 'female' or even 'black female'. My friend Laura's prediction that all three of those would be Whoopi Goldberg looks to have gone wrong after Goldberg's foul-mouthed invective against Bush at a Democratic fundraiser. However, two people who have the potential to be the first black or first female president were in evidence in the opening two days of the convention.
Former first lady Hilary Rodham Clinton, junior Senator for New York, introduced her husband, Bill Clinton on Monday. I am of the opinion that, if Bush were to win re-election this year, Hilary would run for president in 2008. Now, if Kerry wins, I'm not so sure Hilary will run in 2012- she may by then be satisfied to remain a senator, we'll have to wait and see.
The man who may well be a long shot for first black president, but who impressed me greatly, was Barack Obama, a son of African immigrants who gave an absolutely amazing speech as Tuesday's keynote speaker. Obama spoke of how the American people cannot be classified by state, or by party, and that the US are one, diverse people, and so on. He spoke of the hopes and dreams of slaves, of the American people, and of himself, 'a skinny boy with a funny name who thought that America had a place for him too'. Obama, who currently sits in the Illinois state Senate, is standing for the US senate for the first time this year and, as yet, no Republican has been named as an opponent to him. He would become only the fifth black US Senator in history if he were successful and I have a feeling this radical young Democrat, a Harvard graduate who decided to work in Chicago itself , and in politics, rather than opt for an easy life in the suburbs, could one day be the man to bring down the race barrier in US politics.
The other notable speakers on Tuesday were John Kerry's wife, the Mozambique-born Teresa Heinz Kerry, who spoke out in favour of women's right to be taken seriously in politics, and be seen as intelligent rather than opinionated, and Ron Reagan Junior.
Yes, that's Ron Reagan Junior as in the son of the late Ronald Reagan, the spearhead of the New Right attack on the welfare system, and the man who destroyed the lives of the poor and the needy to an even greater degree than they were already.
The reason Ron spoke to the Democratic Convention was that he feels quite strongly about stem cell research, which could help cure diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons. Reagan explained simply and clearly what stem cell research is and why it isn't equivalent to killing human beings, as the Christian Right like to suggest. Reagan's thinly veiled message to 'vote for Stem Cell research' could be translated as 'don't vote for that bunch of goons who want to outlaw the perfectly moral, legal research that could have saved my Dad and millions of others'. Well, that's how it came across to me.
Incidentally, Nancy Reagan won't be attending the Republican convention in New York, apparently in disgust at the Republican lack of support for stem cell research. Good for her. It sometimes takes a tragedy occurring to someone very close to you to appreciate why people want medical research into the cures for that disease or illness. It's shame that the Reagans lost someone so close to them, but I am delighted that they are now campaigning for something to be done.
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