Obama Biden '08 -- America's 'Redeem Team'

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

Not the "Dream Team." But America may have its true "Redeem Team." 

Denver this week won't be the same mega-extravaganza just presented in Beijing, which is a good thing. But both Beijing and Denver will have a "Redeem Team," along with drama and fireworks, first-rate performances, some inevitable stumbles, and round-the-clock reporting.

At the Olympics, the USA men's basketball team was dubbed the "Redeem Team" since they were tasked with reclaiming gold from Argentina who beat the usually dominant USA team in Athens in 2004. Now in the political arena, America's Democratic "Redeem Team" of Barack Obama and Joe Biden must reclaim the White House that was snatched away from Al Gore in 2000 by Team George W. Bush.

^{Richard Perry/The New York Times}

Presumably in Athens the basketball gold medalists won their position fair and square. The same can't be said, necessarily, of Florida 2000, where a conservative-led Supreme Court, a biased Florida secretary of state, and some rowdy Republican operatives posing as voters in Miami succeeded in overriding the popular vote count and the Florida Supreme Court to put their nominee in the White House. It didn't help, either, in 2000, that a Bush relative at the Fox News Network ("Fair and Balanced") called the election for Bush prematurely, or that "Today Show" hosts and pundits in general ridiculed the painstaking process of trying to count Americans' votes that were in dispute due to flawed mechanisms of the voting process.

"Ha, ha. Hanging chads!" Why doesn't Al Gore see the humor there?

It's been a very long eight years for Democrats since then, but this week's convention finally represents a long-awaited turning point and chance for redemption. Obama won his victory in the primaries by offering "Change you can believe in," and change sounded real good to Americans. Many voters and pundits also liked the idea of a Democratic "Dream Team" consisting of Obama and Clinton. But that was not to be, for a complex of reasons, which probably will be made clearer this week by the Democratic Convention speakers, including Hillary Clinton herself.

No, it won't be that "Dream Team." Instead it will be the "Redeem Team." No oil men in the Oval Office this time, and no new tax cuts for the super wealthy. No new missed Presidential Daily Briefings or wars of choice. No more neocons "baiting the Russian bear" or other dangerous saber rattling on the international stage. Most of all, no more lies and bluster.

This time with Obama and Biden carrying the banner, they'll do it for grassroots America instead of for the military-industrial guys at the top of the economic and power-brokering heap. They will run against Enron-style market manipulation, and run for the 48 million medically uninsured. They'll think about voters who struggle to make one mortgage payment or their monthly rent, not about their friends with five houses or an executive role in the sub-prime lending business. They will run on common sense and uniting to solve problems, instead of on wedge issues.

Granted, America has lost a lot of ground since 2000. We've borrowed from China to pay for wars and tax cuts that didn't make sense. We've lost jobs, lost personal income, lost international credibility. All that won't be easy to reclaim. Obama and Biden get that in a way that John McCain never will. Good soldier that he once was, John McCain is stuck in the neocon rut now, ensconced in the gilded world of gated communities.

And Al Gore, who would have made a great president in 2000, has "moved on." He succeeded in getting America to talk about global warming, and Al now has his Nobel Prize, his Oscar, and an Emmy.

But this 2008 "Redeem Team" has Al Gore's blessing. Obama and Biden are the team with a vision of something better, and the chops to get it done. Like the USA men's Olympic basketball team of 2008, they are the real deal. This year our Olympians not only dominated on the court to reclaim the gold; they restored pride to America by demonstrating discipline and class.

Elections matter, and sometimes a lot. Our U.S. Constitution lets voters call for a fresh start every four years, but we didn't quite get there in 2004. This year, redemption is the name of the game, just as much as "Change" is. This time, we must unleash our "Redeem Team" and bring America back to its principles and prosperity.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Technorati Tags: Analysis Obama Biden Redeem Team Olympics Democratic Convention