Mario Gallegos, Not Ducking the Obvious.

Anyone who heard Mario Gallegos speak on Saturday evening of the Texas Democratic State Convention got a chance to see leadership in action. Most who spoke to the questions dividing the party, basically said that all this was unimportant (in light of the Big Bad Republicans). Many Hillary supporters didn't hear the last part clearly, and only heard that their concerns were not important in the new, unified party. I suppose this wasn't the intention of the speakers, but that doesn't solve the problem.

Not ducking the obvious, Gallegos stated that the "this year's primary was a big fight, and the fight has followed us into this hall". He continued with an appeal to his fellow Clinton delegates to invest their aspirations in the Obama campaign. Not to bury their differences, but to carry their fight forward with the Obama candidacy. He spoke with evident sincerity and sensitivity. Then he turned his attention to the party leadership, when he said that unity was a natural result when Democratic legislators stood together in the people's interest. The delicate point implied: of how our problems often derive from the failure of leadership to act in the interests of the people. I understood this as an appeal to the party leadership to reform the party's presidential campaign to become a vehicle suitable to carry forward the aspirations of the Clinton delegates, showing a way around the difficulties.

If someone had run into the Austin Convention Center to announce that the sun went down at the end of the day, that would tell 20,000 Democrats in 2008 just about as much as an honored speaker telling us that Bush is Bad and MaCain is the Same. I am grateful to Mario Gallegos for rising above the mundane, to address the delegation in a meaningful way.