Referring to his struggle to overcome near-blindness, Gov. David A. Paterson yesterday told the Democratic National Convention that only presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama could usher in a new era of economic opportunity for the disabled and all citizens.
Paterson, who made history four years ago as the first blind person to address such a gathering of Democrats, recounted his early years in Brooklyn and Hempstead, and being discriminated against.
But Paterson said his success as a state senator over 21 years and as governor for five months was part of the larger American Dream nurtured by previous presidents. He then blamed the Bush administration for rising unemployment among the disabled, including nearly 90 percent of the deaf and 71 percent of the blind.
"Let's give [Republicans] four more months and then elect Barack Obama," Paterson said to cheers from the New York delegation and others inside Denver's Pepsi Center. "Barack Obama will restore prosperity and will make the changes we need to write a new chapter in the story of the promise of America."
The governor, who lost his vision because of an infection while an infant, said Obama would work with congressional leaders to overturn U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have undermined the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act.
The five-minute speech was the most militant and partisan that Paterson has made from a national stage since becoming governor on March 17 when Eliot Spitzer resigned. There also were echoes of Paterson's praise of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry at the 2004 convention in Boston.
On both occasions, Paterson showed flashes of his trademark humor. He feigned "shock" yesterday when the sparse crowd, responding to his open question, shouted "no" that Republican presumptive presidential nominee John McCain wasn't capable of bolstering the economy.
Paterson then cut into McCain, noting he had touted the Bush administration's economic policies. "If he's the answer to the question, the question must be ridiculous."
The following is a transcript of a speech, as prepared for delivery, by David A. Paterson at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, August 26, 2008:
Let me express my profound gratitude for the magnificent privilege of addressing this convention. I was born in Brooklyn, and I grew up in Harlem and on Long Island. I graduated from Hempstead High School, Columbia University, and Hofstra Law School. In 1985, I was elected to the New York State Senate. In 2006, I was elected Lieutenant Governor. And today, I am deeply honored to address this majestic assembly as Governor of New York State.
My story may be unique in its particular facts and events. But, in a fundamental way, it is not. For it is part of the promise of a glorious nation where anyone who works hard enough can make the most of their God-given potential. This is the promise of America.
What has become of this promise under President Bush? Since last summer, more than 1 million Americans have lost their homes. Wages are declining, while inflation is at a 17-year high. And, this year alone, 463,000 Americans have lost their jobs.
The promise of America has also diminished for people with disabilities. Only 37 percent of Americans with disabilities are employed. Only 30 percent of blind people are employed. And, over the past 8 years, the employment gap between people with disabilities and the general population has increased.
There is only one question in this race: which candidate offers the change we need to restore the promise of America? Is it John McCain? He claims that, under President Bush, we made "great progress economically." In 2007, he voted with the Bush Administration 95 percent of the time.
Only one candidate in this race offers the change we need to restore the promise of America: a person of integrity, honesty, and love for his country, Barack Obama. Barack Obama has the right strategy--from middle class tax cuts, to fair trade policies, to investment in infrastructure-to get our economy moving again.
And just as he fought for people with disabilities as a civil rights lawyer, Barack Obama will fight for us as president. For example, he has pledged to work with Congress to overturn Supreme Court decisions that wrongly narrowed the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Here is the choice America faces in 2008. John McCain offers us four more years of the broken politics, broken policies, and broken promises of the past.
I have a better idea. Let's give them four more months--and then elect Barack Obama, who will restore prosperity; deliver the change we need; and write a new chapter in the promise of America.
From: New York Times by Jeremy W. Peters August 25, 2008
DENVER — There are the bureaucrats and hardened political hands, the newcomers and neophytes. There are some who aspire to higher elected office, and some from the political graveyard. There are names known to most everyone and others mostly anonymous outside political circles.
The 361 people who make up New York's delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Denver include a former majority leader of the United States Senate, two Clintons and a Cuomo. All 25 Democratic members of New York's Congressional delegation have a seat, as do the governor and 20 or so state legislators.
For some, it will be their fourth convention. For others, their first.
Like children headed off to sleep-away camp, New York delegates arrived here with a list of dos and don'ts. As in do drink a lot of water because hydration is necessary to combat the effects of high altitude. And do not consume too much alcohol because the effects of drinking are heightened in the thinner air.
"As you enjoy all the events that Denver and the convention have to offer, please monitor yourself, and remember that drinks may go to your head faster than you're used to in New York," cautions a letter from June O'Neill, the state party chairwoman.
The demographics of this well-looked- after delegation cover just about every conceivable census designation.
The average age is 53, with the youngest 20 and the oldest 84. They are split almost evenly by sex, with 180 men and 181 women. More than 200 are members of ethnic or racial minorities. There are 19 disabled delegates, and 14 are veterans.
"We are black and white and brown and everything in between," Ms. O'Neill said. "We're a very diverse group."
New York has the second-largest delegation at the convention, behind California, which has 503 delegates. The state Democratic Party booked 201 seats on two round-trip flights from New York to Denver and has virtually overrun the Sheraton hotel downtown.
Besides the party luminaries at the convention, there will be some lesser-known Democratic faithful, like a 24-year-old woman with cerebral palsy whose family ruled Nicaragua with an iron fist for more than four decades; an 84-year-old former New York City Council member and pastor from the Bronx who fled the South for New York when he was a teenager for fear he would be lynched; a 77-year-old self-described "old liberal West Side housewife politician" who gave up politics for most of the last decade and found her interest reignited this year by Senator Barack Obama's campaign; and a 20-year-old former United States ski team hopeful turned Democratic fund-raiser who is skipping his first week of college to go to the convention.
Anastasia Somoza's first brush with politics came before she even turned 10, attending City Council meetings at her mother's side. She and her twin sister, Alba, were born with cerebral palsy. Their mother, Mary, fought bitterly with the city school system to have Alba, whose case of cerebral palsy is more severe than Anastasia's, placed in a regular classroom instead of in special education.
The case drew national attention after Anastasia, who was 9 at the time, appealed to President Clinton from her wheelchair during a question-and- answer session for children at the White House.
That encounter, she said, forged her bond to the Clintons. When she was 16, Ms. Somoza volunteered for Hillary Rodham Clinton's first Senate campaign. She then interned for Mrs. Clinton after she was elected and volunteered for her again during this year's presidential campaign.
Now 24, Ms. Somoza, whose father's family ruled Nicaragua for much of the 20th century, said that as a disabled person, she admired how Mrs. Clinton continued fighting to become the Democratic nominee even after many people were counting her out. "If you believe in something, don't give up," said Ms. Somoza, who advocates for the disabled and will be an alternate delegate in Denver. "I really, really felt that she had the experience I experienced."
At 84, the Rev. Wendell Foster has the distinction of being New York's oldest delegate. He will also be half of the delegation's only father-daughter pair. His daughter is Helen D. Foster, who was elected to his old seat on the City Council after he had to leave office because of term limits.
Mr. Foster, who has largely retired from political life and now is a pastor at Christ Church in the Bronx, said he was drawn to politics as a way to fight segregation when he was growing up in Alabama. Memories like his pneumonia-stricken sister's being forced off of a crowded bus because a white person wanted to board and his mother's being told she could not vote are still raw in his mind.
"My anger stayed with me, and I discovered that politics could be a way to make things happen," he said.
Some 70 years have passed since Mr. Foster left Alabama for New York. And while he said he is proud to be serving as a delegate who will select the first black nominee of a major political party in American history, he expected it would have happened sooner.
"To see what has happened gives me pride, gives me joy," Mr. Foster said. "But it also resurrects anger in me because it took us all these years."
Ronnie Eldridge, 77, had been on a political hiatus since 2001, when term limits forced her to step down from her City Council seat. A former special assistant to Mayor John V. Lindsay and Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, she became disillusioned by politics early in President Bush's first term.
She started writing a book, spent more time with her 12 grandchildren and started a weekly cable television talk show through the City University of New York. But she said she saw something in Mr. Obama that drew her back into politics. She canvassed for Mr. Obama on the Upper West Side, sold buttons and held informational events.
Having been at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, when the vote to elect Hubert H. Humphrey as the party nominee was marred by bitter dissension, Ms. Eldridge said she was glad that it appears the vote in Denver will go smoothly.
"I just don't want to get into any of those floor things," she said. "It's time that we stay unified."
Until about two years ago, Arthur Leopold, 20, the youngest member of the New York delegation, was focused on skiing, not politics. While he was attending boarding school in Vermont, he was training to make the United States ski team.
"I didn't even know what a convention was three years ago, to be honest," he said. When he fell short of making the ski team — "I didn't make the cut," he explained — he began to immerse himself in politics. He interned for Representative Carolyn B. Maloney and was quickly tapped to manage her campaign for re-election in 2006.
"I definitely didn't see myself getting this involved," he said. Mr. Leopold deferred his enrollment at Duke University for two years (he will not attend his first class there until after the convention is over) while he worked for Ms. Maloney and started a political consulting firm. Using Facebook and the old-fashioned telephone, he has raised money for Mr. Obama this year — "the campaign has me at a little more than $200,000 right now," he said.
"This is my first convention, my first time voting for the president, the works," he said.
Senator Biden is a long time friend of the disability community and a champion on our issues. Here are his responses to the 2007 AAPD, SABE, NCIL, ADAPT candidates questionnaire: http://www.aapd.com/News/election/071016sjb.htm
Senator Biden was an original co-sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Education for Handicapped Children Act, now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) over 30 years ago and he first came to the Senate because of his commitment to advancing civil rights.
Senator Biden has co-sponsored the Community Choice Act and its predecessors, from the original introduction of MiCASSA in the 107th Congress. He supports the appointment of a Disability Policy Director who reports directly to the President, and he has already agreed to support the UN International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities both as a signatory and through Senate ratification. He has been a champion on many issues of importance to people with disabilities and he is a familiar face at national gatherings of people with disabilities, known for making the time to meet with us and listen to our views.
The team of Obama and Biden is a strong ticket for many, many reasons and Barack Obama's choice for his running mate as the next vice president of the United States is a real reason for celebration among the 54 million Americans with disabilities, our families and our communities.
Thank you Barack Obama for choosing such a wonderful running mate! Voters with disabilities will surely add this important factor as another reason to elect Barack Obama as our next President.
Here is a short video clip of Obama fielding a question from a mother at a town hall meeting in Raleigh, NC (August 19, 2008). The question and response focus on labels such as "retardation,""disability," and "special needs."
by Kareem Dale, National Disability Vote Director, Obama for America Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 10:17 AM
[Note: This video comes from YouTube, so it is not captioned and I am aware of that. The campaign has not yet processed the video for Barack TV, but once it does, the video will be fully captioned.]
Please see the below blog posting by Seth, the Co-Chair of the Disability Policy Committee.
For months now, Barack Obama has been talking about disability issues with voters on the stump: how to break down the barriers that exclude people with disabilities from jobs; the importance of universal health care to Americans of all kinds, including people with disabilities; and providing the supports that people with disabilities need to live independent lives in their communities.
Unfortunately, we don't always have video of these discussions on the campaign trail. But click here for one user-generated video that's available on YouTube showing Barack Obama answering a question from the mother of a child with Down's Syndrome. Barack doesn't just show his support for Americans with disabilities and their families, although he certainly does that. He also explains why he strongly supports full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I encourage you to spend a few minutes. It's worth watching.
As a contrast, click here for a video of Senator McCain's statement about the fact that he doesn't support the Community Choice Act. And click here for McCain's prior public statement against the CCA.
The Obama and McCain campaigns released the following statement on the Presidential Debates
The Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns have agreed to hold three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate in September and October sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The campaigns have come to the earliest agreement on presidential debates reached in any general election in recent history. This announcement reflects the presidential campaigns' agreement on dates, locations, and the formats for the fall debates. Campaign-appointed debate negotiators House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said they were pleased to have reached an early agreement to provide the American people with the opportunity to see and hear the candidates debate the critical issues facing the country. The two campaigns have accepted sponsorship of the debates by the Commission on Presidential Debates, subject to the debates being conducted under the terms of their agreement.
Summary of McCain-Obama Debate Agreement
The two campaigns agreed today on a framework for four General Election debates, to be sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Key elements of the agreement are:
1. First Presidential Debate:
* Date: September 26 * Site: University of Mississippi * Topic: Foreign Policy & National Security * Moderator: Jim Lehrer * Staging: Podium debate * Answer Format: The debate will be broken into nine, 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate 2 minutes to comment. After these initial answers, the moderator will facilitate an open discussion of the topic for the remaining 5 minutes, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment
2. Vice Presidential Debate
* Date: October 2 * Site: Washington University ( St. Louis ) * Moderator: Gwen Ifill * Staging/Answer Format: To be resolved after both parties' Vice Presidential nominees are selected.
3. Second Presidential Debate
* Date: October 7 * Site: Belmont University * Moderator: Tom Brokaw * Staging: Town Hall debate * Format: The moderator will call on members of the audience (and draw questions from the internet). Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to each question. Following those initial answers, the moderator will invite the candidates to respond to the previous answers, for a total of 1 minute, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment. In the spirit of the Town Hall, all questions will come from the audience (or internet), and not the moderator.
4. Third Presidential Debate
* Date: October 15 * Site: Hofstra University * Topic: Domestic and Economic policy * Moderator: Bob Schieffer * Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table * Answer Format: Same as First Presidential Debate * Closing Statements: At the end of this debate (only) each candidate shall have the opportunity for a 90 second closing statement.
All four debates will begin at 9:00pm ET, and last for 90 minutes. Both campaigns also agreed to accept the CPD's participation rules for third-party candidate participation.
(Schenectady Daily Gazette - March 9, 2006; also attached: Silver, Key Assembly Members Call For Ending Mental Health Care Discrimination Urge Senate To Join In Passing Timothy's Law Assembly March 8 News Release)
September 2005 Newsletter Newsletter includes information about the candidates endorsed by the 504 Democratic Club running for election in the September 13th Democratic Primary
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