The guest of honor has made it to his own party and conventioneers are preparing for what some Republicans hope will be invigorating speeches, laying out the case for Mitt Romney to become the 45th President of the United States of America.
Republicans are hopeful they can now gain some political momentum even as Isaac threatens the Gulf Coast region, seven years after Hurricane Katrina.
Pivotal for the convention are the speeches that are expected to rally the cause of the GOP. There is anticipation for keynote speech topics.
Critics have long since compared politics to football as they both have a lot of armchair quarterbacks. In this case, there are many who are expressing what they want to hear out of the convention.
Actor, humanitarian, and businessman, Wendell Pierce, a staunch Obama supporter and fundraiser, wants the Republican convention to focus on issues of hurt in minority America. Pierce was on the phone in his car evacuating his parents from New Orleans to Alabama when he made the comments Monday night.
Pierce says, “People need to make those delegates aware in Tampa, the same thing I am going to challenge my own party [to do],.. We have to be aware of the object poverty in our country. We have to do something about the violence that is happening with our youth that comes out of that object poverty because of the lack of opportunity."
Piece is not sure if he will attend the Democratic Convention in Charlotte next week, but is also urging the GOP to stop its efforts to suppress the black vote with voter ID laws.
Pierce also feels there is irony of the Republican National Convention and its rousing speeches with Isaac threatening landfall on the Katrina anniversary. He says, "It feels like deja vu!…It is kind of profound irony that is happening with the Republican National Convention because it makes me think of George W. Bush and his abandonment of an American city in its time of need."
African-American former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson eagerly awaits the address by Ann Romney, the wife of Governor Mitt Romney. “I am looking forward to Mrs. Romney's speech. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for her, all that she has endured”, says Jackson. Mrs. Romney has multiple sclerosis and is a breast cancer survivor. Jackson asserts Mrs. Romney “has been a very, very strong advocate for women’s rights and women’s issues."
The former Hud Secretary is not in Tampa, but plans to watch the speeches of some of the higher profile RNC speakers. “I also expect Governor Christie will give a very entertaining speech…I think the key to all this is the speech that Congressman Ryan gives and Governor Romney gives. It must be a speech deep in substance, telling the American people what they want to do for our country….it is going to have to be a speech of substance.”
But there is one speaker the former Bush Administration official is not particularly eager to hear. Jackson is confounded with Former Democratic Alabama Congressman Artur Davis. Jackson says, “I am a little surprised with some of the speakers there…clearly some people last term around were very critical of the Republican Party, yet they are there now and they are basically Republicans."
Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, a native of Alabama, like Artur Davis, reflects on what he thought of as a bright, political career, saying the former congressman’s party switch is "sad".
The Congressional Black Caucus, a group of black, mostly Democratic congressional leaders wrote a scathing open letter for the newly-minted Republican Artur Davis, stating, “your actions are the result of a nakedly personal and political calculation or simmering anguish after failing to secure the Democratic nomination for governor of the State of Alabama in 2010." When Davis represented Alabama in Congress, he was a member of the CBC.
Head of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman Shultz says, “I agree with my CBC colleagues”, calling it “naked ambition” and “naked opportunism” on the part of Artur Davis to speak at the RNC. There is at least one more speech the chairwoman is interested in hearing. Meanwhile, Wasserman Shultz believes the speech will be “the biggest Etch-A-Sketch event in history” for the Romney-Ryan campaign. In her mind, a perfect Romney speech would include his words to “embrace the notion we should all work together…that the, 'my way or the highway' extremism will be put aside. I would like to hear Mitt Romney say he will release his taxes and be transparent.”
