On a day when the Republican Party put aside the paraphernalia of the military and dressed itself in the softer pastels of 'compassionate conservatism', First Lady Laura Bush led the charge in portraying the President as a man with a heart large as all outdoors.
Speaking in the prime time 10.30 pm (Eastern) slot, the First Lady spoke of 'quiet dinners' at the White House in the immediate aftermath of 9/11; she spoke of sitting at a White House window watching, as her husband paced on the lawn outside, struggling with the decision to go to war.
Though Laura Bush touched on her husband's compassion for school children, and concern that every one who ails gets good, quick, and affordable medical care, the main thrust of the speech was intended at softening the warlike image of the President -- an image that, a day earlier, the convention had carefully fostered.
It was a speech intended to give the conventioneers, and the larger audience watching on TV, a warm and fuzzy look into the "George I know", and the appreciative audience -- which included former President George H W Bush and wife Barbara; Vice President Dick Cheney and wife Lynne; NY Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg and an array of Senators and Congressmen -- accorded it several sustained ovations.
"You can count on him, especially in a crisis. His friends don't change -- and neither do his values," she said, defining her message.
Bush twins Barbara and Jenna had earlier taken the stage, playing up the `cute kids of the President angle' as they kidded their grandmother Barbara Bush on not being au courant with pop culture. "Our parents know the difference between mono and Bono," the twins, who took turns speaking, said. "And okay, we have taught our parents some pop culture, and they have taught us their values."
The twins then cued up President Bush, appearing on the large screen via satellite, live from Pennsylvania. Against the backdrop of a backyard baseball game, Bush introduced his wife, speaking of his marrying her as the best thing he had ever done in his life and asking the audience to send her to the White House for four more years.
The day's other featured speaker was California Governor Arnold Schwarzennegger, who kicked off with a direct attack on the opposition. "One of my movies was called True Lies, and that is what the Democratic convention (in Boston last month) was all about," Schwarzennegger said in an applause-drawing early moment.
In another not so subtle reference to his own movies, Schwarzennegger, while playing the `You are a Republican if.' chord, said, "If you believe we should be fierce and relentless and terminate terrorism, then you are a Republican."
He then spoke of growing up in Austria, under the shadow of the Soviet Union. "If the world does not fear the Soviets any more, it is because of the USA," he said.
Like Senator John McCain and former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani the day before, Schwarzennegger played the moderate. "It is okay," he said, "if you do not agree with this party on every issue. Not only is that okay, but that is what is great about the country."
It was very much on-message. For two days now, the prime time speakers have been undercutting the Democratic charges by repeatedly making the point that even if you do not agree with every aspect of the Republican agenda, that was okay -- the point was to focus on national security, where the majority in every opinion poll has put Bush ahead of his challenger, Senator John Kerry.
Schwarzennegger played straight to the galleries; his speech was strewn with applause-bait. "To those who are pessimistic of our economy, I say don't be economic girlymen," he said, reprising an insult he had flung at Democrats recently in California.
The movie star turned politician painted a picture of America as the defender of freedoms and democracy throughout the world. "When Nelson Mandela smiled in election victory after all those years in prison, America celebrated too," he said.
The remark brought the house to its feet. Literally minutes later, the Democratic National Committee was flooding mailboxes, pointing out that in 1986, when the House moved a resolution urging the President to ask the South African government to release Mandela, Vice President Dick Cheney -- who was present and applauding the California Governor -- had voted against the motion.
It's been that kind of convention; within minutes of a star speaker finishing his stint, mails poured in, questioning every single statement made.
Schwarzenegger -- again staying on-message and underlining the point that unlike Kerry, Bush is a leader who is not governed by public opinion -- said the President had gone to war with Iraq despite all polls indicating that the decision would be unpopular. Again, the DNC responded within minutes, pointing out that in the run up to the war, an overwhelming 71 per cent of those polled had backed an invasion of Iraq.
An interesting point of the evening came shortly before Schwarzennegger's 10 pm speaking slot, when Maryland's Lt Governor Michael Steele, the first African American elected to statewide office there, took the podium. Steele had been built up as the Republican answer to Democratic rising star Barack Obama. And Steele reinforced the comparison when, right at the outset, he referred to Obama's keynote address on day three of the Boston convention. Touching on Obama's `audacity of hope' theme, Steele said hope is not enough -- to really achieve something took not optimism, not hope, but action.
Among the evening's speakers, it was Steele who in a speech that dwelt extensively on growing up black and poor and fighting his way to the top, pushed the envelope in his attacks on the Democrats, particularly John Kerry. "John Kerry said the other day that he does not want to use the word war to describe the effort against terrorism. I say I don't want to use the words commander in chief to describe John Kerry."
The evening session started with an invocation by a pastor, that brought God front and center to the platform. "Thank You for the freedom to express ourselves and to vote for those who best represent us," the pastor said. "Thank you God for President and Mrs Bush."
The speeches that followed, adhering to the `People of Compassion' theme that had been earmarked for the day, touched on issues such as the sanctity of marriage, medical research and health care and education reform.
George P Bush, son of Florida Governor Jeb Bush and nephew of the president, addressed the theme of America, and by extension the Republican Party, as the party that favors immigrants. This, again, was a dominant theme, with the Republicans seeking to undercut the Democratic cache of being the party that favors the minorities. Playing that particular chord -- and given the importance of the Hispanic vote -- Bush ended his brief speech with a call, in Spanish, for the re-election of his uncle.
Elizabeth Hasselbeck, star of the reality show Survivor and an advocate of breast cancer research, recounted her mother's battle with cancer and said the president had put unprecedented funding behind cancer research.
North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole, wife of 1996 Republican nominee Bob Dole, who lost to Bill Clinton in the latter's re-election campaign, emphasized the 'family values' part of the party platform when she spoke of the party's staunch defense of the values of marriage and of the rights of unborn children, and said the Republicans had not invented either Life, or the institution of marriage, but was the party that would defend it.
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On Wednesday, day three of the convention, the message switches to 'Land of Opportunity'; featured speakers include Georgia Senator Zell Miller, who in 1992 had at the same venue delivered the keynote address in favor of then Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton, and Vice President Dick Cheney.
PS: On a personal note, I was somewhat amused to read, in the reader response column attached to my report yesterday, a note from someone who suggested that my report - an the line "memory of that moment to legitimize the President's actions" - indicated that I had jumped on the Arundhati Roy bandwagon.
Firstly, I am not aware of the current whereabouts of that particular wagon, even if were intending to climb on board. More to the point, I thought it was evident that I was reporting what was said at the Republican convention, not stating my own opinions.
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