![\"Title](\"http:\/\/masonvotes.gmu.edu\/imgs\/mainPics\/mainPic03.jpg\")
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George Mason University students gathered in the Johnson Center Atrium on August 28 to watch the final evening of the Democratic National Convention. The night culminated in Senator Barack Obama\u2019s acceptance of the Democratic Nomination for President.<\/p>\n
Tim Kaine kicked off the night in Denver, CO followed by former Vice President Al Gore and his denunciation of the exhausted politics of the past. Gore likened both Obama\u2019s legislative experience and his third way politics to those of his fellow Illinois forefather, Abraham Lincoln. His message: Obama is the future of American politics. Response amongst the youth to Obama\u2019s message is proof that the bi-partisan divide will fall.<\/p>\n
Following Al Gore\u2019s speech, in the JC, Gerry Connolly, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and and Democratic contender for Congress, took the stage in support of Barack Obama\u2019s presidential run. \u201cWhat was improbable six months ago is on the horizon today,\u201d said congressman Connolly. He called upon Mason students to support the Democratic ticket in Virginia: Barack Obama, Mark Warner, and Gerry Connolly. Connolly stressed the importance that the youth should be active in the change they want to see.<\/p>\n
Back in Denver, Senator Joseph Biden followed Obama\u2019s presidential endorsement by top military officials. Biden did not introduce the presidential nominee, but rather, introduced the everyday supporters of Obama. Biden claimed, \u201cThese are the people who will elect Mr. Obama\u2026and when we are in the White House, we will make sure that their voices are always heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anticipation mounted for Obama\u2019s appearance as \u201cPower to the People!\u201d blasted in the background and spotlights danced across Mile High Stadium like the halftime show at the Superbowl. Music, flag waving, dancing, and lip syncing ensued in Denver in the minutes before the Illinois Senator Dick Durbin took the stage.<\/p>\n
Durbin spoke to Obama\u2019s political integrity. \u201cHe built,\u201d he said, \u201chis political career from anonymity to the presidential nomination on his belief that we could live in a better nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The JC atrium was sparsely populated at 8:30pm but by 10:00pm there wasn\u2019t an empty seat to be found. Obama arrived on the Denver stage to overwhelming applause\u2014applause so loud it delayed his speech. He was spurred on by Mason Democrats, sending him their support through cheers and whistles.<\/p>\n
After thanking his wife, children and running mate, Obama quickly launched into an attack of Senator John McCain\u2019s policies. \u201cWhat does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right over 90% of the time?\u201d asked Obama of McCain. \u201cWe cannot afford a 10% chance of change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama launched into an attack of McCain\u2019s promotion of stoic individualism and called it a policy of \u201con your own.\u201d McCain might call Americans a nation of whiners but privatization under McCain, claimed Obama, would really result in the revocation of governmental responsibility for the basic necessities of its citizens. \u201cPull yourself up by your own bootstraps, even if you don\u2019t have boots,\u201d quipped Obama about McCain\u2019s economic vision.<\/p>\n
Obama asserted that he does not want to feed into the cynicism that people have about politics and admitted that he does not have the typical pedigree of a presidential candidate. But, he said, \u201cwhat the naysers have never understood is that this election is not about me, it is about YOU.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government should help us, not hurt us\u2026that is the promise of America. That is the change we can believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photo by Christian Yingling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
George Mason University students gathered in the Johnson Center Atrium on August 28 to watch the final evening of the Democratic National Convention. The night culminated in Senator Barack Obama\u2019s acceptance of the Democratic Nomination for President. Tim Kaine kicked off the night in Denver, CO followed by former Vice President Al Gore and his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/57"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}