Mark Warner Keynote: A Nominee That Should Have Been

Tonight the Democrats were treated to their keynote address by the man that I wish they were nominating for President this week, former Virginia Governor Mark Warner. Warner is a former businessman who made a fortune in the early days of the cellular phone industry and went on to become Governor of his home state. He is currently a lock to become the state’s next US Senator.

As would be expected for most successful southern Democrats, Warner is a moderate who has worked well with Republicans (as he noted, during his term as governor the GOP held a 2-1 majority in the legislature). He has delivered an address which calls on the best of bipartisan cooperation.

He began his remarks by stating:

My fellow Democrats. My fellow Americans. The most important contest of our generation has begun.

Not the campaign for the presidency. Not the campaign for Congress. But the race for the future. And I believe from the bottom of my heart with the right vision, the right leadership, and the energy and creativity of the American people, there is no nation that we can’t out hustle or out compete. And no American need be left out or left behind.

Now of course, it is hardly a new thing for a speaker at a political convention to call on the future but given Warner’s past it is a good deal more compelling. Warner was one of those people who saw the future and acted on it.

His remarks show a good deal more respect for business and commerce than you might hear from some of his Democratic colleagues and also showed a sense of humor

After I graduated law school, it didn’t take long to realize that America really wouldn’t miss me as a lawyer. So I started a business. My first company failed in six weeks. My next one was much more successful. It failed in six months.

And then, a buddy of mine told me that there was this new idea. This thing called “car telephones” … “cell phones.” Friends told me: “Warner get a real job… No one’s going to want a phone in the car.” But I saw a different future. And with luck and a lot of hard work, I got in on the ground floor of the cell phone industry.

He went on to discuss the fact that it was important for everyone to recognize that it is only in a country like the United States could someone start out from humble beginnings and then move on through a series of failed businesses only to succeed in the end.

He then moved into the red meat section of the speech, talking about how important it was for everyone to have the same kind of opportunities and how problems like the inability to pay for college or the fear of losing a home or the burdens of being deployed over and over to Iraq are the fault of the Bush/McCain team. But even here he did so in a much less harsh or angry manner than some other speakers might have.

In his comments on the President he made some comments about what his biggest criticism was:

Let’s be fair, some of these challenges were inevitable. But all of them are more severe, more immediate, and more threatening because of the misguided policies and outdated thinking of this administration.

People always ask me, “What’s your biggest criticism of President Bush?” I’m sure you all have your own. Here’s mine: It’s not just the policy differences. It’s the fact that this president never tapped into our greatest resources — the character and resolve of the American people. He never asked us to step up.

Think about it: After September 11, if there was a call from the president to get us off foreign oil, to stop funding the very terrorists who had just attacked us, every American would have said, “How can I do my part?” This administration failed to believe in what we can achieve as a nation, when all of us work together.

With due respect to Mr. Warner, there were calls from both parties after 9/11 for us to get off of foreign oil and I don’t recall people rallying to the cause. He is right of course that we need to get off of our dependence but the problem is that, for one side, the only solution seems to be more drilling while, for the other side, the solution is to magically produce solutions overnight.

As you might expect his solution to the problems involves the election of Senator Obama and here I think he might be getting a tad too optimistic.

You know, America has never been afraid of the future, and we shouldn’t start now. If we choose the right path, every one of these challenges is also an opportunity. Look at energy. If we actually got ourselves off foreign oil, we can make our country safer. We’ll start to solve global warming. And with the right policies, within 24 months, we’ll be building 100 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrid vehicles right here — with American technology and with American workers.

Look at health care. If we bring down costs and cover everyone, not only will America be healthier, we’ll be more competitive in the global economy. Just think about this: In six months, we will have an administration that actually believes in science! And then we can again lead the world in live-saving and life-changing cures.

Look at education. If we recruit an army of new teachers and actually give our schools the resources to meet our highest standards, not only will every child in America get a fair shot, the American economy will get a shot in the arm. Whether they want to be an engineer or an electrician, every kid will be trained for the jobs of the 21st Century.

Or look at America’s standing in the world. If we rebuild our military and rebuild our alliances, we can rally the world to defeat terrorism and restore America’s leadership.

Which candidate understands these opportunities, and which candidate knows we don’t have another four years to waste? Barack Obama. And Barack Obama knows this too: We need leaders who see our common ground as sacred ground. We need leaders who will appeal to us not as Republicans or Democrats, but first and foremost as Americans.

As I discussed above, here I think Senator-to-be Warner is a bit overly-optimistic in his solutions. I do think that hybrids are part of the solution of the future but if they are all plug-in cars, where is the electricity to power them going to come from? Coal plants? Oil plants ? We already have an energy problem in many places so I think there needs to be a little bit more of a solution here.

At this point in his speech, I think Warner demonstrated why, to at least some degree, the hopes of bipartisanship may be overly optimistic. Speaking to the delegates, Warner said:

I know we’re at the Democratic convention, but if an idea works, it really doesn’t matter if it has an “R” or “D” next to it. Because this election isn’t about liberal versus conservative. It’s not about left versus right. It’s about the future versus the past.

At this point the crowd reaction was mixed, while there were some cheers there were also a number of boos or at least grumblings. To me this demonstrates that there are at least some hard core Democrats who are unwilling to even consider working across the aisle (and, to be fair, an equal number of hard core Republicans). It’s part of the reason I think people like Warner and Schwarzenegger need to join together in a third party for the rest of us.

But the fact that he thinks this way is one of the reasons I have been such a fan. He went on to discuss some of the successes he had in his tenure as Governor offering them as an example for the country.

And we can do it. When I became Governor, this is what Virginia faced: a massive budget shortfall; an economy that wasn’t moving; gridlock in the capital. Sound familiar?

So what did we do? Working together — a Democratic governor with a two-to-one Republican legislature and a whole lot of good folks who didn’t see themselves as either Democrats or Republicans, but as Virginians — we closed the budget gap, and Virginia was named the best managed state in the nation.

We made record investments in education and in job training. We got 98 percent of eligible kids enrolled in our children’s health care program.

We delivered broadband to the most remote areas of our state, because if you can send a job to Bangalore, India, you sure as heck can send one to Danville, Va., and Flint, Mich., and Scranton, Pa., and Peoria, Ill. In a global economy, you should have to leave your home town to find a world-class job.

He also discussed how in towns like Lebanon Virginia they were able to take old mining communities and bring modern industry in to revitalize the community. He concluded his remarks by commenting on the somewhat awkward position he was in and the fact that he occupied a job once held by Jefferson:

As Governor of Virginia, it was humbling to occupy a position that was once held by Thomas Jefferson. Almost as daunting as delivering the keynote speech four years after Barack Obama…Or speaking before Hillary Clinton.

Towards the end of his life, Thomas Jefferson -the founder of our party- wrote one of his frequent letters to his old rival, John Adams. He complained about the aches of getting old, but what was on his mind was what life would be like for the next generation of Americans. As Jefferson was ready to go to sleep, he closed his letter by writing: “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

Jefferson got it right at the dawn of the 19th century, and it’s our challenge to get it right at the dawn of the 21st. This race is all about the future. That’s why we must elect Barack Obama as our next president. Because the race for the future will be won when old partisanship gives way to new ideas. When we put solutions over stalemates, and when hope replaces fear.

Tonight, looking out at all of you, and with a deep faith in the character and resolve of the American people, I am more confident than ever that we will win that race and make the future ours.

All things considered, I was impressed by Warner and his speech. He recognized, I think, that with Clinton and Obama on the same docket that he wasn’t going to send the crowd into the same kind of frenzy as Obama did 4 years ago.

But he delivered an address that I think will find great appeal to the many, many voters who are neither hard-core Democrats or hard-core Republicans. This is what makes him so appealing to me and, sadly, what may have made it impossible for him to prevail in the Democratic primary/caucus process.

I do not know if the Obama/Biden ticket will win in November. I do not know if I will vote for them or against them. At this point those things are in the future.

But I do know that if Mr. Warner were speaking on Thursday, the election would probably be over right now.