Daily Kos: "To be a Democrat in this modern age"

by MissLaura
Sun Jun 03, 2007 at 09:31:06 AM PDT

At yesterday's New Hampshire Democratic Party state convention, presidential candidates Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, and Bill Richardson spoke. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley spoke for Hillary Clinton, former Congressman David Bonior spoke (through a bullhorn, to protest a non-union sound company) for John Edwards, and Michelle Obama spoke for Barack Obama. New Hampshire Governor John Lynch spoke, Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter spoke. Senate candidates Jay Buckey, Steve Marchand, and Katrina Swett spoke. It was a jam-packed day.

But Paul Hodes gave us something special. While I'm predisposed to like what Hodes has to say, I've also heard him speak many times and the ending of this one stood out, in the day and in his record.

To be a Democrat in this modern age means to inherit a fearful nation and give it new confidence and new strength. It means creating policies that transform our nation into something stronger and more compassionate than it was before. Our great opportunity is to build on the legacy of the Democratic Party, adapt it to modern times and lead with strength and clarity. To paraphrase John Fitzgerald Kennedy, we look forward and not behind. We welcome new ideas without rigid reaction. We care about people, their health, their housing, their jobs, their schools, their civil rights, and their civil liberties. And we believe that we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad.