Make greater history by electing Obama

THE ISSUE History was made when Barack Obama became the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party.

History was witnessed Thursday by nearly 80,000 people at a Denver stadium and 38 million television viewers as Barack Obama became the first African-American to accept the presidential nomination by a major American political party. In one of his finest speeches, Obama provided compelling reasons why the nation should make greater history in November by sending him to the White House.

Citing his embodiment of advancement from divisive politics and his inspiration of people with unity and hope, this newspaper endorsed Honolulu-born Obama in June after he clinched the Democratic nomination. He exhibited those attributes in a moving speech delivered 45 years to the day after the Rev. Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on Washington's Mall.

"How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day," presumed GOP nominee John McCain said in a TV ad. He had been attacking Obama for months as too inexperienced and questioning his patriotism. Obama, who had been slow to respond, fought back in his speech on the final day of last week's Democratic National Convention at Invesco Field.

In TV ads and on his Web site, McCain asserts "country first" and has absurdly charged that Obama, whose proposed timetable for withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq has been endorsed by the Iraqi government and at last by the Bush administration, "would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign."

"The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents," Obama responded in his speech, "but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same flag. So I've got news for you, John McCain: We all put our country first."

McCain should put aside such personal attacks and address important issues. In his speech, Obama provided greater detail than previously on many issues. Voters should compare those proposals to McCain's platform.