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DENVER – Democratic National Convention organizers proudly tout the diversity of the 4,438 delegates at the Pepsi Center.
Blacks, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, Native Americans and members of other groups are represented in greater strength than at previous conventions.
They’ll nominate Barack Obama, who hopes to make history as the first African American president.
Multiculturalism and historic symbolism are huge with the Democrats.
So when I heard that Denver’s Native American community was welcoming the conventioneers with a Tribal Unity Day Powwow Sunday, I stopped by Civic Center Park.
Not far from protesters noisily voicing their demands on issues ranging from the Iraq war to taxing meat, was a different kind of convention, steeped in its own traditions.
At the powwow, men played drums while colorfully dressed American Indian families danced, talked and ate freshly deep-fried Indian tacos. Few Democratic delegates came to the welcome, but that didn’t seem to matter.
As I sat under the trees talking with A.J. and Ace No Braid, I sensed a disconnect between the extravaganza at the Pepsi Center and the concerns of ordinary voters.
The city’s hospitality couldn’t be warmer, but some here feel cool toward the party. The Democrats’ flashy festivities are remote from voters’ lives.
The No Braids and their daughters Lara, 10, and Larissa, 14, were dressed in beautifully beaded tribal costumes decorated with symbolic bones. They wore and carried eagle feathers. A.J. and Ace trace their roots to tribes in the Dakotas, and both are Army vets.
Their daughters are learning tribal ways, including beading. The family spends almost every weekend involved in American Indian activities.
Politics was in the air, though, and between dances, several local candidates asked for people’s votes. The response was tepid.
A.J. No Braid knows what it’s like to reach for the American dream. Her mother took out a second mortgage to help her attend a private Denver prep school, and A.J. spent a year at Dartmouth College, until finances forced her to drop out. That’s when she joined the Army.
I asked No Braid, who works in sales support for a telecom company, what she thought of Obama.
“I wanted Hillary,” she said. She caucused for Clinton earlier this year. Obama won Colorado’s caucuses.
“I really support women in leadership roles,” she said.
Ace No Braid told me didn’t care much for either Republican John McCain or Obama.
“What are either of them going to do to help people of America, to help them keep their jobs?” he asked.
No Braid, a plumber, was laid off Friday.
“We feel like we’re constantly playing catch-up,” his wife said.
The No Braids don’t hear either presidential candidate or those running for Congress talking specifically about how they’d help working families.
Come Election Day, Ace said he’ll probably vote for Obama, because he wants the war in Iraq to end.
And Obama’s historic moment? He shrugged.
Will the convention and Barack Obama reach people like the No Braids this week?
That, and not the demographics of delegates, is the challenge facing the Democrats in Denver.
***
(What do you think? Comment below.
Blacks, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, Native Americans and members of other groups are represented in greater strength than at previous conventions.
They’ll nominate Barack Obama, who hopes to make history as the first African American president.
Multiculturalism and historic symbolism are huge with the Democrats.
So when I heard that Denver’s Native American community was welcoming the conventioneers with a Tribal Unity Day Powwow Sunday, I stopped by Civic Center Park.
Not far from protesters noisily voicing their demands on issues ranging from the Iraq war to taxing meat, was a different kind of convention, steeped in its own traditions.
At the powwow, men played drums while colorfully dressed American Indian families danced, talked and ate freshly deep-fried Indian tacos. Few Democratic delegates came to the welcome, but that didn’t seem to matter.
As I sat under the trees talking with A.J. and Ace No Braid, I sensed a disconnect between the extravaganza at the Pepsi Center and the concerns of ordinary voters.
The city’s hospitality couldn’t be warmer, but some here feel cool toward the party. The Democrats’ flashy festivities are remote from voters’ lives.
The No Braids and their daughters Lara, 10, and Larissa, 14, were dressed in beautifully beaded tribal costumes decorated with symbolic bones. They wore and carried eagle feathers. A.J. and Ace trace their roots to tribes in the Dakotas, and both are Army vets.
Their daughters are learning tribal ways, including beading. The family spends almost every weekend involved in American Indian activities.
Politics was in the air, though, and between dances, several local candidates asked for people’s votes. The response was tepid.
A.J. No Braid knows what it’s like to reach for the American dream. Her mother took out a second mortgage to help her attend a private Denver prep school, and A.J. spent a year at Dartmouth College, until finances forced her to drop out. That’s when she joined the Army.
I asked No Braid, who works in sales support for a telecom company, what she thought of Obama.
“I wanted Hillary,” she said. She caucused for Clinton earlier this year. Obama won Colorado’s caucuses.
“I really support women in leadership roles,” she said.
Ace No Braid told me didn’t care much for either Republican John McCain or Obama.
“What are either of them going to do to help people of America, to help them keep their jobs?” he asked.
No Braid, a plumber, was laid off Friday.
“We feel like we’re constantly playing catch-up,” his wife said.
The No Braids don’t hear either presidential candidate or those running for Congress talking specifically about how they’d help working families.
Come Election Day, Ace said he’ll probably vote for Obama, because he wants the war in Iraq to end.
And Obama’s historic moment? He shrugged.
Will the convention and Barack Obama reach people like the No Braids this week?
That, and not the demographics of delegates, is the challenge facing the Democrats in Denver.
***
(What do you think? Comment below.