Congressman Emanuel Cleaver spoke at the Saturday night dinner for Truman Days held at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center.

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D) at Truman Days in Kansas City.

…[applause] [cheers] Thank you. [cheers] I think it’s important to know, it is important to know that had Jay Nixon not won the governor’s office we would be in terrible trouble. Missouri has nine members in the United States House of Representatives, four Democrats, five Republicans. All five, all five. One, two, three, four, five. All five. Five, four, three, two, one. [laughter] All of them opposed, voted against trying to stimulate the economy. All of them. And had he not been in the governor’s office we would have suffered the same fate as Texas. Texas, where I was born and I’m ashamed of [laughter] tonight. They’re turning their money back in. With record unemployment. With a devastating economy. And they don’t want the money. And so I hope everyone understands how gratuitous we are to have Jay Nixon come in to office as governor at such a time as this. [applause]

We are right now in the, in the beginning stages of a new, sweet spirit in Washington. It is a can do spirit. It is infinitely more compassion than it was before. I was there. I experienced it. It is different. One of the sad things is that our opposition party has concluded that they lost, not because of bad ideas, not because of a bogus excuse to go to war, but because they were not right winged enough. [laughter] And it’s, it’s kind of sad to see what has happened. All of the moderates that were in Congress are gone. There’s not a single Republican member of the House of Representatives in New England. They’ve all been wiped out.

Because they have bad ideas. We tried their ideas for eight years. And as a result Barack Obama ends up in the White House during the great recession. The nation was and still is in trouble. We’re expecting about three million more foreclosures around the nation. And the commercial real estate market is already in trouble, and no one knows exactly what’s going to happen there.

But the good news is that we have a new, bright, articulate, visionary leader in Washington. [applause] And there are those who criticize him because they say he’s trying to do too much. There are many, many ways of being a failure. Doing nothing is the most successful. [laughter] And that is one thing you don’t have to worry about experiencing. We are doing a lot…

…We just overhauled the credit card bill. It goes over to the Senate. [applause] Most people probably don’t even know that my amendment to the bill deals with college students. The United States sends out four billion credit cards a year. I’m sorry, four billion solicitations a year. I didn’t make a mistake and, and say four billion, meant four million. I meant four billion. And then they send these college students credit card when they go into college and during their registration week they get a subway sandwich and a tee shirt if they fill out an application for a card. And they sent my son a credit card last year who’s in college in California. I would die for him. I wouldn’t send him a credit card. [laughter] [applause]

But rather than helping they, they just criticize, condemn, complain, and cop out. And they say there’s no bipartisanship. I want to remind you the first so called bailout was not proposed by Barack Obama. It was proposed by George W. Bush and his secretary Hank Paulson. Let me also let you know that my mail, like my colleague’s, was probably one thousand to one opposing. That was the case for every member of Congress all around the country. Because people didn’t understand at that time how bad things were. It would have been an easy vote for Democrats to say, “We have an unpopular president in the White House. let’s just vote ‘no.'” But bipartisanship is what happens when you want the country to succeed. We carried the Bush-Paulson bill. We did. Bipartisanship. And then when Barack Obama came to office they just couldn’t accept it. They still can’t accept it. And so not one single Republican, not one. Even after he invited some of them to the White House for the Super Bowl. [laughter] Some of us were opposed to them going over [laughter], messin’ up the White House, doing the Super Bowl. But not one. Not one. You know one could have thought it was a good idea. Not one voted for. And so when you hear people on television talking about this bipartisanship, correct them quickly. We supported a weak, unpopular president because the nation came first. [applause] [cheers]

And the nation now realizes we are right and they are wrong. I mean John Boehner [R-Ohio] is a good guy, actually he’s a, he’s a good guy. He said on television, he said, “Well, you know these Democrats they just think different.” Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. [laughter] I mean, right on soul brotha, I mean. [laughter] Of course we do. [laughter] I’ve been trying to tell ’em, “We’re right, they’re wrong. If you’re right you think differently.” [laughter] [applause] [voice: “Yeah!”] They’ve been wrong for eight years. [applause] And the nation is tired of wrong. [applause] [cheers]

I mean they, I mean there’s torture. A nation’s greatness does not depend on how strong it is, but how it handles its greatness. This nation is too great to torture. And our president has stood up and said, “No more.” {applause] [cheers]

But we’ve got to be careful. We got to get Robin Carnahan [voice: “Yeah.”] in the Senate. [applause] We can’t take it for granted. It is true that the Republican brand has been damaged. There’s no question about it. If you look at the, the generic polling, what people prefer, Republican or Democrat, we are just continuing to move up. Further and further. But even at that we cannot afford to sit down. A line, the line between confidence and arrogance is very narrow. And we cannot afford to come across as arrogant. That reminds me of the folk who were wrong [voice: “Right.”]

Let me conclude, just telling you a story about a guy who had tried to put a light in his shed in the back yard. So he rigged up a dynamo battery to operate the light And once he got it all connected the light flickered, went off and on, and finally, the light went out. So he called a friend and said, “Look, I’m trying to rig up a light for my backyard shed. Can you come over and help?” So this friend who was an electrician worked around and he finally said, “Look, I cannot rig this in a way that would create enough power for the light to come on. But I can rig it, because you have enough power, for a bell.” Now, what does that have to do with us? A lot. It is infinitely easier to ring a bell then generate some light. It easier to make some noise then generate light. Light is what the nation needs during these days of darkness. [voice: Yeah.”] Light doesn’t make noise, it just shines brightly, makes people feel better, it tears away the darkness. And that’s what, that’s what’s happening around the country. We are tearing away the darkness. Now there are those who are still making noise. They don’t have enough power to generate light. So they just make noise. [voices] [applause] Noise. Noise. [applause] But the good news tonight. We have somebody [voice: “Come on.”] who can generate light and make noise. [laughter] [applause] ladies and gentlemen, our senator, Clair McCaskill [applause] [cheers]…

Congressman Cleaver after the conclusion of the Saturday night dinner.

At the entrance to the Fire Fighters Hospitality Suite.

Dutch Newman (right) in a Hospitality Suite on Friday night.

The view at dusk from the 40th floor of the Hyatt Regency Crown Center.

At the beginning of the 5th Congressional District Club brunch on Saturday morning.

Missouri State Treasurer Clint Zweifel after speaking at the brunch on Saturday morning.

In the parking garage at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center. Yep, we’re at the right place.

The crowd, including dead trees media, gathers before the dinner on Saturday night.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (center).

Senator Claire McCaskill.

Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

Missouri State Auditor Susan Montee and Steven Bough, Chair of the Jackson County Democratic Committee.

Our good friends in organized labor attended Truman Days events in force.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster (D) was introduced by Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders at the dinner held at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center last night:

Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders: …We always knew that Chris Koster was an extremely effective politician. And we really knew that was the case when he switched parties and joined the Democratic Party. [applause] We knew how smart and brilliant this man was. [applause] We knew he was a great politician in winning, obviously the race that he ran and the races that he’d run before, but what we’re also now discovering about Chris, things that we knew and many of the people in this room know, is that he is a great administrator, a great person, a great leader.

One example. Two thousand nine looks like it’s going to be a record year in the State of Missouri for recovery of money on Medicaid and Medicare fraud. [applause] [cheers] Fifty million dollars [applause] that through Chris’ leadership is going to be returned.

Mike Sanders and Chris Koster

Now these are all the things that we can talk about, we can read about in the paper, Chris is in the paper. We can see the great things that he is doing in the Attorney General’s office, but I wanted to just end with a little brief thing. And that is, in 1996 I left the Jackson County Prosecutor’s office, I was a criminal defense attorney, and one of the first, the first case I got hired on was a gentleman who was ultimately wrongly convicted out of Cass County, Missouri. Let me tell you this. The man that I called was this man right here. The thing that amazed me about Chris Koster was when I called him, as a defense attorney/prosecutor you expect an adversarial relationship, what stunned me, what amazed me about Chris Koster was he was as agressive towards finding the truth about that case as anyone that that gentleman could have hired. But for him, but for him a wrongly convicted man could still be in prison today in the State of Missouri. That’s a personal story. [applause]

Chris Koster is a man who doesn’t just talk the talk. He walks the walk. He’s a man of high integrity, high character, a great leader, and your Attorney General, the top law enforcement officer for this State of Missouri, Chris Koster. [applause] [cheers]

Attorney General Chris Koster: Thank you very much.

Thank you to the Jackson County Democratic Party, for all your support. Congratulations Steve [Bough] on hosting another great Truman Days event. And to all of you in this room for the chance, the chance that you have given me to serve. It’s good to be back in Kansas City and among friends.

Missouri Democrats had a banner year in two thousand and eight. And we’re going to have another banner year in two thousand and ten when we take back this Missouri House of Representatives [applause], when we re-elect Susan Montee [applause], and when we send my friend Robin Carnahan to Washington. [applause]

If you told me ten years ago that I would be here tonight [laughter] speaking at the Truman Days dinner [laughter] I might be a little surprised. [laughter] The path that I took and the path that led me here tonight reaffirms my belief in the openness of a great political party and in the power of change. In November we saw what the power of change could do for this entire nation.

We saw young standing up with the old. We saw the rich standing with the poor. And we saw Americans of every different race and creed standing behind a common desire for change. Right here in Missouri millions stood behind the call for change that was voiced by Jay Nixon and Democrats from St. Joseph to Cape Girardeau. And these Missouri Democrats will not let this state down.

We are seeing the kind of leadership in the first few months of the Obama-Biden administration that is finally reconnecting our government and our people, and our nation to the entire world. In Jefferson City Governor Nixon is offering a true breath of fresh air, honest leadership, and open government. [Dutch Newman: “Yes!] [applause] He’s a man of progress. [applause] He’s a man of progress and not partisanship. He’s as plain spoken as Harry Truman and leads with the same common sense Democrat values. It was an honor to stand on the steps of the state capitol with him last January to be sworn in as Attorney General. Jay Nixon left big shoes to fill. Every day when I walk in that office I sit behind his desk, sixteen years, and I recognize the responsibility that he has left to me. But it is my goal to make him proud.

I happen to think that I have the best job in state government. My job isn’t to be a show horse. We’ve got a lot of talented people in this party to showcase, and in our government. I recognize that I am the low man on the Democratic totem pole. And I tell you tonight that there is no place that I would rather be.

Law enforcement has been my life’s work. And I’m proud to serve the people of this state and of this party every day…

Missouri State Treasurer Clint Zweifel spoke at the brunch at Truman Days this morning.

Missouri State Treasurer Clint Zweifel

Good morning.

[audience: “Good morning.”]

It’s amazing how we all look after November [laughter]. Feel better, at least. I tell ya, I just want to first say thank you and, you know, Steve Bough is one of the first people that I had the opportunity to say hello to in Kansas City during my journey here. And I think he represents a lot of what I thought, as a guy coming from the other side of the state, some of the great things about Kansas City. Open minded, willing to give a new candidate an opportunity to prove themselves and the warm embracement that I feel like you all gave me early on, year ago that I was here, that sort of struggling early on in that process. Every time I came here I left feeling a little bit better about that effort. Didn’t know if we were going to win for sure, but we felt a little bit better about that effort. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me that chance to serve. Thank you. [applause]…

The place settings for brunch.

…And, and I also want to recognize, one of my first times here, maybe my second time here, I had the opportunity to pick up Dutch Newman, at her house. [laughter] I probably shouldn’t use the word “pickup”. [laughter] We’re friends, right? And, and we, we were going to a meeting and she said, “Can we, can we stop at this dry cleaners real quick on the way?” And I said, “Sure.” [laughter] So we stopped at this dry cleaners and we walked in and she gets her dry cleaning. But, of course, she doesn’t stop for a second, she says to the attendant, she says, “This guy is gonna be our next state treasurer.” [laughter] And he looks at her kind of crazy. And she says, “Yeah, you know, state treasurer. It’s an elected position. You’re voting in the election.” [laughter] And he goes, “Oh, I, I really don’t vote.” And she looks at him. And she’s kind of just looking, she goes, “Well yeah, but you’re gonna vote this election, right?” [laughter] “This is a big election.” He goes, “I’m philosophically opposed to voting.” And I, I, I’ve never seen those eyes look quite that way. [laughter] She said, “Come on, we gotta get out of here.” [laughter]

And, and, but again, in warm embracing, and willing to give me a chance, and thank you, Dutch. And, and, congratulations to Lolly [Garcia] for your award today and to be here to be a part of it and share in the joy. And, and one of the most nerve wracking things about coming to Kansas City is, is the fear that you actually would ever have to speak after Congressman Cleaver. [voices: “Yeah!”] [laughter] So, I feel like it’s a victory already. [laughter] [applause]

I tell you, you know, when you think about the ability to communicate as a leader is one of the most, I think, one of the most important qualities of leadership. And to be able to articulate a vision of the basic values of what the Democratic Party is about is criticle, right? And there is no one, in my short time in this business, that I’ve been able to see do that like Congressman Cleaver. Thank you for helping us. [applause]

As, as state treasurer I have an opportunity to talk a lot about financial education across the state, so which is one of our new, sort of, responsibilities that we work on. And it’s an important one. And last week, we have this, we have this great program called the stock market game. And this is a, this is a program where about four hundred kids from, fourth grade, I think, all the way up ’til, up ’til high school participate in this program. They come from everywhere. And we had a meeting last week in St. Louis where they did an awards ceremony for these kids. And these kids come from Knox County, three and a half hour drive, with their counselors and their teachers and their parents. They come from right next door in St. Louis, they come from Kansas City. And it’s, it’s really great because, you know, you’re coming home on a Thursday night thinking about, you know, what you really want to do, you know, get home, and you see all these kids. It’s, it’s a pretty refreshing, pretty refreshing experience. And one of these groups, they give the kids essentially the equivalent of a hundred thousand dollars to invest over a, basically over a four month period. And of course it’s been a horrible market, right? And one of the groups from Melville High School turned a hunred thousand dollars into a hundred and thirty thousand dollars during that period. And the leader [of the]…three person group came up and we got our picture taken. And I said, “You know, I, tell you, my staff is a little nervous, I think because we didn’t do so well in the Treasurer’s office this year. I’d like to give you a job at some point.” And he said, and he looked at me in the eye, and he shook my hand and he said, “No, I’m gonna be president.” [laughter]

And, you know, one of the things that they teach these kids about investing, obviously, is the idea that, you know, small investments over a long period of time actually pay off. And they try to teach them that as much as possible. The idea of persistence, the idea of being, of, of preparing yourself, and of doing research. And they really, it’s a great financial lesson that, you know, when you think about it, that lesson is really about life. You know the idea that making small investments in your self, making small investments in others, making small investments in our state actually make a difference. And that is an important lesson. And you think about, you think about growing up, and we talked about that conversation that night, I thought about growing up in my family. We didn’t have a lot of money. My dad was carpenter and my mom was a hair dresser. We didn’t have financial sophistication, right? But I think I learned more about investing from my parents and my family then I did [from] anyone. The idea that, you know, if you’re a member of a community you should stand up and get involved. And run for a local office. Or get involved and help the local candidate like my folks did. Or run a cub scout troop, or get involved in your church. The idea that you’re making a small investment – and I think that’s something that my parents didn’t have the money to figure out whether mutual funds or direct stock investment were their best choice. But they surely had the resources and the ability to really teach a child about investing really early on.

And I think about those examples when I walked on to a college campus for the first time. First person in my family to attend a college, first person to graduate. And you walk on as a young person and you see opportunity. Opportunity that you never thought existed. I just remember looking at the catalog of courses at that point and thinking, “My God, I can’t believe that I can choose between all these courses to study.” And I remember thinking about the teachers at that university who had absolutely no idea who I was. I surely wasn’t very confident, surely wasn’t communicating a bunch, and they came up to me and said, “You know, Clint, we want to help you.” And you begin thinking about that approach that those kids were learning in investments and making good financial decisions is really an approach to, to life in general. And an approach to how we should see government. And, you know, when you have people behind you, whether it’s government, whether it’s friends or family dort of standing by you, making those small investments, you’re surely a lot more likely to go a lot farther along the way.

You know when we, you kno
w when Steve [Bough] was talking about my first run in 2002, it was a pretty tough year for Democrats, right? We had lost the House eventually that year for the first time in forty-eight years. And I was excited though. I mean this is February, I’m filing for office, and I started, you know, talking to other state reps and they said, “You know, you’re, you’re running against the wrong guy. This guy is gonna win again. You know, he keeps winning.” He was in office for ten years. And I started knocking on seventy-five doors a day that year, starting June 1st. And we got to the end of August, we were about eight weeks out before the election. And I felt really good, right? These were all soccer coaches and baseball coaches and people that you’ve known for decades. And I started getting the same response in a week’s period from almost everybody I was knocking on the doors of, and that was, you know, “Clint, somebody just called about your election, they want to know how we’re gonna vote.” Somebody’s doing a poll. So I got home, I called the Democratic Party and I said, you know, I said, “Are you doing a poll? Because, you know, we’re getting the same response.” And they said, “Clint, we just completed the results.” And I said, “Well, tell me.” I said, “I’ve known all these people. We’ve knocked on, at this point, ten thousand doors, we’re gonna win this thing. And so, how am I doing?” There was this horrible pause. [laughter] and they said, “Clint, out of, out of that district and out of all the people we polled only eighteen per cent of the people still know who you are.” [laughter] “And forty-eight per cent are voting against you…eighteen percent are committed to voting for you.” And I thought, “No!” [laughter] “I lived here for twenty-eight years. I’m gonna do okay.” And they said, “Well, you know, you’re probably not gonna do it this time, but, you know, run a nice campaign, you’re gonna, you’re gonna come back in, in six years when it’s an open seat and do it.” And, you know, I thought a lot about the small investments that people had made in my campaign up to that point. Because I think as a candidate, and everybody in this room knows that feeling that’s been one, I think the one thing that you want to do is make everybody proud of the effort that you put into the campaign. You know, whether they’ve given five dollars or twenty-five hundred dollars, it really doesn’t matter. These are people that believe in you. And you want to live up to what, what they expect of you.

We went back out that next day and I knocked on seventy five more doors. We did that every day. And by the time we got to election night I had knocked on fourteen thousand doors, didn’t know if we were gonna win, but we felt really good. The early results came in at seven fifteen. And we were down a hundred and sixty votes. So we lost about eight per cent of my party at that point. [laughter] But, but by eleven o’clock we won that election by sixty seven votes out of thirteen thousand cast. [applause] And I say that because it’s a lesson that those small investments pay off. I mean, everyone of us as an individual has control over sixty seven votes. A lot more than that for some of us in the room. And, you know, you think about the power that we have as individuals to affect change in this process, and to be able to affect change in Jefferson City. And, you know, that, that’s what we’re trying to do in the office of State Treasurer right now.

You know, we came into the office and during the transition period with some priorities. And one was openess and transparency. One was making sure that we put your dollars to work for you. In the best way possible – that we reinvest in the state. You know we run an office with excellence.

And one thing that we identified early on is that we have one of only two states in the nation, one of only two states in the nation that when we make a deposit in a Missouri bank we actually don’t get an interest, competitive interest rate of return. We’re they only state that does this. So when I buy a six month CD we’re getting a return, a whopping return of about a fifth of a per cent and we should be getting about a percent and a half to two per cent. Now that, that costs taxpayers about ten to fifteen million dollars a year. But on top of that think about, think about the decision we have ahead of us. Do we want to reinvest inside the state and hurt taxpayers potentially? Or do we put our money somewhere else. And for the first time we’re one vote away in the House folks, for the first time in fifty years we’ll get a competitive rate of return on the interest that we place in Missouri banks and we will expand our small business lending program by three times. [applause]

You think between both of those changes, hopefully the House continues to plug along like they have been, thank you Paul, [laughter] and, and with that we’ll have a one billion dollar reinvestment in state at a time when our economy needs it more than ever. We also have been working really hard on college savings. And one of the things that we administrate is the Missouri MOST program, which is the college savings program. And it’s a tax deductible way to save for college, it’s a great way to save for college. The program works well, everybody will tell you how great it is, and it is good. But one thing that we found that there’s a lot of middle class families and working class families that frankly just don’t have the extra dollars to save for this program. And we’re undergoing, for the first time ever, a beginnings of a pilot program that would help us provide matching dollars for those families under a certain income level who are saving for college. The idea that if they’re willing a dollar in to their kid’s college education, then we’re willing to give them a dollar back or two dollars back. So we’re working on that. We hope to have some news at some point, the end of this year or next year for the beginning of that pilot program. really excited about that.

You know, I just can’t tell you how happy I am to be here today. I love the job of State Treaurer. And the confidence that you have given me and, and is remarkable. So, thank you. And I just want to say – think about what you’ve accomplished. You know, when Washington looks to Missouri now, they look to Senator McCaskill. [applause] You know, and we have, we have a governor now that’s talking about ways that we can actually move the state forward. So, you know, the conversations in Jeff City, folks, aren’t easy. And, and they’re not pleasant all the time. And this is the time in the session when people get frustrated, but folks, we’ve already made progress, right? we’re having the right conversations now, we weren’t four years ago. and that’s because of your effort. And we took five out of six statewide offices. five out of the six statewide [applause] offices right here in Missouri. And next year we have lots more excitement ahead of us – Robin Carnahan as a United States senator. [applause, cheers] And we have an auditor who’s quietly done an unbelievable job in that office. You know, if we’re going to accomplish our goals expanding health care access, and providing funding for education, we have to have a government that’s accountable and builds trust. Susan Montee has done that every single day in that office. [applause]

Folks, thank you again. I can’t tell you what an honor it is to serve you and really happy to be here in Kansas City. [applause]

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver.

Truman Days in Kansas City: Friday Night Hospitality Suites

Truman Days

It’s that time of year again!

A late night view from the 40th floor of the Hyatt Regency Crown Center, site of the Hospitality Suites for Truman Days.

We got to see a lot of good Democrats we’ve known for years, we got to meet a lot of new people, and we got to hear a good bit about the insanity of the republican majority in the Missouri General Assembly from people who are witnessing it up close during the present session.

Alexia Norris (left) and Kevin Stamps, Missouri Democratic Party (right).

In the parking garage at the Hyatt.

Blue Girl, RBH and I are covering the happenings at Truman Days, sponsored by the Jackson County Democratic Committee:

The view from the 40th floor of the Hyatt Regency Crown Center, site of the Hospitality Suites for Truman Days.

Leila Medley, Missouri NEA, former DNC member (left); Doug Brooks, DNC member and member of the Missouri State Democratic Committee (center); Courtney Cole, member of the Missouri State Democratic Committee (right).

In the Fire Fighters suite.

The Jackson County Democratic Committee meeting.

Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders (D).

It’s that time of year. Tonight and tomorrow Blue Girl, RBH and I will be covering the happenings at Truman Days, sponsored by the Jackson County Democratic Committee.

Your diligent blog servants hard at work in the Hospitality Suites at Truman Days in 2008. Sometimes, just sometimes, there are a few perks.

The 2009 schedule of events:

Friday May 1st

5 pm Registration

5:30pm-Midnight Hospitality Suites

Saturday May 2nd

10:30am Brunch – 5th District Women’s Club

Featuring: Treasurer Clint Zwiefel

1-3pm Young Democrats Roundtable

2-6pm Hospitality Suites

6pm Social hour

7pm Banquet

Featuring: Governor Jennifer Granholm

All events take place at the Hyatt Regency, Crown Center, Kansas City…

Meanwhile, Jennifer Granholm is the subject of some speculation in the news in regard to the U.S. Supreme Court:

Friday, May 1, 2009

Granholm mentioned as possible Supreme Court justice candidate

Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s name is being bandied around today on the morning news shows as a potential replacement for U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who reportedly has told the White House he’s retiring.

Granholm, 50, a Harvard law graduate and former state attorney general and federal prosecutor, is mentioned as one of a handful of candidates who may be appointed by President Barack Obama to replace Souter, a liberal jurist and 18-year veteran of the high court…

Back to Truman days. We plan on talking to people (this is all about politics, you know), maybe snagging a few interviews about this and that, and generally basking in the warm glow of Democratic Party and organized labor celebration(s) with like minded folks. If you’re attending and you see us hanging around, taking photos, or trying to interview someone, say “hello” and hand Blue Girl and RBH a cold beer. They’ll appreciate it. I guarantee it.

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. was the featured speaker at the Saturday night banquet at Truman Days 2008 in Independence.

Representative Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. began service in the United States House of Representatives on December 12, 1995, as he was sworn in as a member of the 104th Congress, the 91st African American ever elected to Congress.

Representative Jackson currently sits on the House Appropriations Committee, serving as the 5th ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education as well as the 2nd ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs. His leadership created the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health in 2001, hailed by many minority health experts as the most important civil rights legislation since the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Representative Jackson also secured funding for the Institute of Medicine’s 2002 report on health disparities, “Unequal Treatment…”

…In 1987, Representative Jackson graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina A & T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management. Three years later, he earned a Master of Arts Degree in Theology from the Chicago Theological Seminary, and in 1993, received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois College of Law. He has also been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from the Chicago Theological Seminary, Governors State University, North Carolina A & T State University, Charles R. Drew Univ. of Medicine and Science, Meharry Medical College and Morehouse School of Medicine. Representative Jackson has co-authored A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights (2001) with Frank E. Watkins. He has also co-authored Legal Lynching II (2001), It’s About the Money (1999) and Legal Lynching (1996)…

Congressman Jackson’s remarks:  

Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to Congressman Emanuel Cleaver for that very generous and very kind, very warm, very thoughtful, very profound, very provocative, and very truthful introduction. [laughter] Senator Claire McCaskill, extraordinary representative of the people of the great state of Missouri in the United States Senate. Every single Missourian has a lot to be proud of for the class, the dignity, the level of distinction that Claire McCaskill has brought to the United States Senate. Give Claire a great round of applause. [applause, cheers] Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, whom I can’t say enough about. Emanuel is an extraordinary leader in the Congress of the United States, an extraordinary friend, a man with whom everyone in the Congress, both Democrat and Republican, look to with great esteem. Emanuel gives new credence to the idea of what it means to be a distinguished gentleman. I’m proud to serve in the Congress of the United States with Emanuel. Please give Reverend Cleaver… [applause, cheers] To the entire Missouri delegation, Congressman Ike Skelton – your dean, Lacy Clay, Russ Carnahan, and the soon Honorable Kay Barnes…member of Congress [cheers, applause]

I am indeed honored and privileged to have the opportunity to be here tonight and in Jackson County. I want to congratulate at the outset the gentleman who has shown extraordinary leadership across this state, he will be your next governor. Jay, we enjoyed your remarks tonight. Give Jay Nixon another round of applause. [applause]

To the mother of the Democratic Party [Dutch Newman] [laughter],  I’ve always wanted to meet you. [laughter] I wanted to know who gave birth to this motley group [laughter] of political activists. Dutch Newman, for your extraordinary work helping elect Democrats across this state, it’s because of your grass roots activism and the inspiration and motivation that you give a new generation of Democrats a reason for existence.

My father tells me that so much of who we are as public servants, not as politicians, comes from simple basic biblical teachings. To serve this present age [garbled] will all my powers be engaged to do the master’s will. To serve the least of these, those who cannot speak for themselves. The political process within which we serve provides us the legal means by which those who cannot afford health care, who cannot afford housing, those who are suffering economically, might bring about a change in their lives. For those of us who consider ourselves to be the blessed amongst us, while we help the rest amongst us, this is the legal process within which our country allows us, Dutch, to bring about change. And just no one in the great state of Missouri, and in this county, has done that quite like Dutch. Give Dutch another great round of applause. [applause, cheers]

It’s very difficult for me to improve upon what your Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders said in his extraordinary speech. Jackson County Democratic Committee Chairman Wayne Stewart, members of the 5th District Democratic Women’s Club, and distinguished guests and fellow Democrats. I’m honored to join you this year as you celebrate one of the heroes of the Democratic Party, Harry S Truman. Truman Days activities are always a high point in the year. Which is only natural, since the activities are sponsored by the [emphasis] Jackson County Democratic Committee. And I’m happy to be in [emphasis] Jackson County. [laughter, applause] I thought, Emmanuel, I knew what Democrats were until I met a Jackson County Democrat. [laughter] I never felt more warm and more welcome than the Democratic Party gathering,  and I must add that I have spoken in thirty states during the course of this very long Democratic contest, and I’ve never met Democrats quite like you Harry Truman Democrats. [laughter, applause, cheers]  With that said, I plan to tell you the truth tonight. [laughter] I’m gonna do three things. First, I plan to be brief. Then I plan to be adequate. And third, I plan to be appropriate. [laughter] But in keeping with the Jesse Jackson, Sr. tradition, I plan to be adequate and appropriate. [laughter] Two out of three isn’t all that bad. [laughter]

I asked my father a long time ago what the key to giving a good speech was and said, “Jesse, Jr., if you write a very good beginning”, Reverend Cleaver, “and if you write a very good ending, and you can manage to put the two as close together as possible, [laughter] then you’ll have a good speech.” I plan to try and follow some of his advice this evening.

Actually, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in approximately, Mrs. Cleaver, three and a half minutes. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the “I have a dream” speech, Jay, in thirteen and a half minutes. I plan to position a Harry Truman’s Day comfortably between Gettysburg and “I have a dream”. [laughter, applause]

We’re actually gonna get out of here on the same night that we began. [laughter]

Tonight I want to speak from the subject – we are Americans. And the definition of  what it means to be an American is a changing proposition. Harry Truman once said, “Our case for Democracy should be as strong as we can make it. It should rest on practical evidence that we have been able to put our own House Democrats in order.” Today is May 17th, two thousand and eight. Today marks the fifty fourth anniversary of the Brown versus the Board of Education decision in 1954. May 17th. We are quite a different Democratic Party on May 17th 2008 then we were on May 17th 1954. I don’t want to, what Harry Truman would have said, give you too much hell without telling you the truth. But Harry Truman was known for straight talk. It is not the Democratic Party that we were, Dutch, it is the Democratic party that we are and
the Democratic Party that we are becoming. And the nation that we will build because we are a changing people, not fixed in stone, and not fixed in time.

The brilliance and the genius of the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Barack Obama campaign is the celebration, not just of two extraordinary candidates, but is the celebration of the turning of the page of one America into a new era. [applause] An era where we are no longer consumed by the politics of us versus them, but by the politics of we. We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, do establish this Constitution to provide, among other things, basic things like domestic tranquility. And outside of the Constitution another document called the Declaration of Independence, this premise, this guiding light that all men and, yes, all women are created equal. Not the America [applause] that was, but the America that we are and the America that we are trying to become is what we celebrate. We owe so much to Harry Truman and generation of Americans that tore down the great walls of division that brought us closer together as a people. I remind people all across this country that, Mr. Chairman, on July 4th 1776 we were one kind of America. Where Kay Barnes was not even considered capable of serving in the Congress of the United States because Kay Barnes and women could not vote in our society on July 4th 1776. On July 4th 1776 African Americans found themselves in quite a different position as Americans. Struggling for a broader definition of what it meant to be an American, Recognizing this profound problem on July 4th 1852 Frederick Douglass delivered a speech rebuking what does July 4th mean to the African American who finds themself in a condition of chattel slavery. By July 4th 1859 the Democratic Party, the party that majored in localism and state concern and state rights and anti the Federal government found itself positioning itself as a political party to dissolve the Union. And to move our states out of the Union. And the nation’s first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, ran on a platform of stopping the expansion of the peculiar institution west and saving the Union, was elected the first Republican president, our sixteenth president, in 1860.

By July 4th 1963, two months before Martin Luther Kin, Jr. would deliver a dream about an America that he saw, we were becoming, and yet, another America. By July 4th two thousand and seven Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who would imagine it, would be tied and locked in a campaign for the nomination of the very party that denied them their rights on July 4th 1776. [applause, cheers]

By July 4th two thousand and eight Barack Obama will be the presumptive Democratic nominee of that party. And by July 4th two thousand and nine he will be the forty fourth president of the United States [applause] of America. [applause] That’s quite a [garbled].

And so while we struggle within the Democratic Party to broaden the definition of what it means to be an American we are not unmindful of this day in American history. That Brown versus the Board of Education decision that would soon lay the foundation for another great woman, who died within the last couple of years, Rosa Parks, to sit down on a bus. And demand that not only the schools be desegregated, but public transportation be desegregated and every facet of American life be desegregated. And so those who have been locked out of the Democratic Party and locked out of the political process today it is women and African Americans and Latinos and Gays and Lesbians and Independents and Republicans that we are attracting to the Democratic Party because of our message of hope, today those who were locked out are now the majority and we are going to redefine a new century. [applause]

Looking out over this enormous social progress I shall never forget the book written by Samuel Dewitt Proctor [sp], the substance of things hoped for when he talked about being a professor at Rutgers University and stepping on an elevator one time and he went up to the third floor and as he was heading up to the sixth floor in the building within he was teaching and he had his hat on and the elevator stopped on the fourth floor, but a young white lady got on the elevator and Dr. Proctor took of his hat and he stepped back and she said, “Dr. Proctor, Dr. Proctor, why did you take off your hat? Don’t you know that chivalry is dead?” “That we know longer live”, Dr. Proctor said “in the Victorian age,” she said. And Dr. Proctor said, “If you would be so kind as to step off of the elevator with me on the sixth floor I’d like to tell you why I took of my hat.” He said, “I, I feel that you should understand that any society that ceases to respect women is a society that is purchasing its debt on an installment plan, spiritually.” [voices] “Any man who would not respect a woman is dooming future generations to a level of disrespect because it is women ultimately who are responsible for raising and rearing our children, giving birth to the future, and yes, a new nation.” He said, “I wanted you to have unqualified assurance that should someone come on the elevator and beat you half to death they would have to go through me first.” [laughter] “That should any man try to take advantage of you in my presence, he would have to go through me first. That would have taken a long time to have said all of that, so instead of saying any of it, I simply tilted my hat.”

These are the values of Harry Truman. These are the unspoken values of decency that we as Americans would like to see in our families and in our streets again, Dutch. How you treat the least of these and how we treat people. It doesn’t require a new government program, although I fundamentally believe we need some. [laughter, applause]

But the values of human decency is an appeal to the human spirit. It’s an appeal to something else that government can’t provide. How we treat people that we walk by on a daily basis. How we feel about ourselves. How do we feel about that old golden rule, “Do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”

The idea of a more perfect union is not something that should be a fleeting dream or a fleeing memory. It is a part of who we are as a people. As we move from one definition of America to a completely different and new definition without abandoning the old. And so, Claire probably said it best. The County Executive certainly said it well. This isn’t about politics. This isn’t about us versus we. This isn’t about them. It’s about what we can become together. The politics of Democrats versus Republicans, that old divide, that comes from that old war, that [garbled] division,. I don’t want to see Republicans dieing in Iraq. I don’t want to see democrats dieing in Iraq. I don’t want to see an American die in Iraq. [applause] I don’t care what party they are in. [applause, cheers]

[garbled] We’re not looking for a health care system that works for Democrats, compared to the present one that works for Republicans. [laughter] We want a health care system that’s based upon a simple premise. That when you get sick you ought not be able to look back upon a bill. If it’s good enough for members of Congress and good enough for members of the Senate it ought to be good enough for every American [applause] regardless of their race, their sex, or their class. [applause]

[garbled] And there’s something about this Obama and this Clinton campaign that is helping us to believe again. In fact, I’ve never thought for a moment that we’ve ever stopped believing. You see the foundation, Jackson County, of who we are is a very very profound believe system. Emanuel Cleaver, I’m not so sure we fully explore beyond Sunday morning what it is we say we believe. [voices] I was in Israel a few years ago and spent some time in Egypt and in that part of the world and…My momma used to make me go to church every Sunday morning and I didn’t quite understand what, what she meant and why she would make me go to church until I went there one time and I think at a certain age it, you know, clicks on you. I didn’t realize until I was alm
ost twenty years old that Charlton Heston was not Moses. [laughter] I don’t know why but when I read the Book of Exodus I still think about Charlton Heston. [laughter] But I stood there, Reverend Cleaver, at the Red Sea and the Bible tells me that he stood there and parted the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s chariots were drowned in, in the sea. I believe it. I stood there at the Red Sea, it, it did not part for me. [laughter] I saw it part in the movie, a Cecil B. DeMille movie, I read it in the Bible, my, my faith tells me that, that man with the help of God has the power to part the Red Sea, that Pharaoh’s army was drowned. I believed it. And I still believe it. But, there’s something about me that tells me I can’t feel it, and so, and so it’s part of who I am. God, with, through man has the power to accomplish great things. Including parting the Red Sea.

Every Sunday I went to church and we’d go to church and we’re told about, about the power of God and his capacity to give birth to virgin woman. One part of me tells me that virgins can’t give birth. But there’s something about my belief system that tells me that somehow a virgin woman can give birth to a savior. I believe it. It’s a part of who I am. It’s a part of the structure of who some of us are. Believe in someone, momma said, who gave sight to the blind before cataract surgery. [laughter] Believe in someone who healed the sick, before modern medicine. Believe in someone who fed the multitudes with a few fish and a few loaves of bread. That’s what we believe. We go to church every Sunday and we, and we pray about it. Believe in someone who walked on water. Impossible. But I believe it. Believe in someone who was crucified, declared dead, buried, and on the third day, rose from the dead. [voices: “Yeah, yeah.”] Believe it. It’s impossible, but I believe it. And since I believe in [emphasis] all of these things, then why can’t I believe that we can be one people? [voice: “Amen.”] Why can’t I believe that we can build a more perfect union? [voices] Why can’t I believe that we can end the war in Iraq? Why can’t I believe that we can elect Barack Obama or wherever you stand, Hillary Clinton? Why can’t you believe that we can turn the tide on the America that was to the America that ought to be in our lifetimes? [applause] If we believe in the impossible then we can believe we can make the difference. [applause]

So Democrats, I am here because somewhere I heard psalm sung. That little becomes much [voices: “Um, hm.”] when we place it in the master’s hand. [voice: “That’s right.”] Somewhere I read, ‘To whom much is given, much is required.” Somewhere I read it’s not about our party versus the other party, it’s about bringing all Americans together and making a difference. [voices] Somewhere I read. “Be faithful over a few things, [voices] and I will make you ruler over many.” I believe that. Somewhere I read. That these parties too, at some point in time, even though we’re loyal and faithful Democrats, that these parties too shall pass. And when the parties and the politics pass that we will cohere, as Dr. Proctor suggested, in a value system that we all can [garbled] true and dear.

Hi. My name is Jesse Jackson, Jr. Without party affiliation, without title, without respect for color, or concern for skin, that I will be measured by the true content of my character, that I will measure you by the true content of your character, that we might cohere beyond the tragedies of our nation. Somehow we tend to come together around September 11 when there’s a great tragedy and [voices] shortly after the tragedy, when we fall into the politics, we start separating back into groups on how we’re going to get beyond…That we will cohere as one nation and one people. And move beyond the historic divisions and accomplish something great, not only for ourselves, but for all of humanity. This is our faith. This is the [emphasis] essence of our faith. This is what Harry Truman tried to accomplish. This is what the 44th president of the United States will ordain. Thank you and God bless you all. [cheers, applause]

Former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes (and current 6th Congressional District candidate), Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, and Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.

For us here at Show Me Progress the second day of Truman Days in Jackson County started late. We made it in to the Independence location a little after 5:00 p.m., with enough time to check out the 7:00 p.m. banquet location and start talking to people gathering for the 5:30 p.m. reception.

I spoke with Greater Kansas City Democracy for America President Joe Medley (more on that in a later post) before it got too crowded and noisy in the lobby.

State Representative (and Attorney General candidate) Jeff Harris and Katie Harris

I spoke with Jeff Harris (and Katie Harris) about the end of the legislative session. Stopping the voter ID bill was topic one among all in attendance. We also talked about the repeal of campaign contribution limits. Representative Harris and I conversed at some length about public campaign financing (in Maine and Arizona).

I had only a brief opportunity to speak with State Senator (and Attorney General candidate) Chris Koster about the end of the session. His “run out the clock” strategy on the floor of the Senate was singled out for praise by State Auditor Susan Montee in her remarks to those attending the banquet.

In the banquet hall I did get to briefly speak with Representative Margaret Donnelly (also a candidate for Attorney General). Again, the topic of the conversation was the failure of the voter ID bill and the repeal of campaign finance limits.

Apparently party committees will still be able to contribute to candidates (unlike the previous republican attempt), though we’ll have to take a close look at the language to see what’s in the bill once it becomes available on-line.

We at Show Me Progress plan on attending the Democratic Attorney General debate in Kansas City scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 22nd at White Recital Hall on the campus of UMKC.  

Attorney General Jay Nixon

The crowd (and its spillover) attending the 5:00 p.m. reception merged with the crowd gathering in the lobby for the banquet – members of Congress, statewide office holders, statewide candidates, members of and candidates for the General Assembly, political staff, and political activists – all elbow to elbow.

You’ve gotta love it.

The Jackson County Democratic Committee is hosting Truman Days 2008, a two day event, in Independence which started this evening.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jim Kanatzar and Alvin Brooks

From 5:00 p.m. through the bulk of the evening a number of organizations hosted hospitality suites. The food and the location were conducive to close quarters interaction among activists, interest groups, organized labor, office holders, and office seekers.

At the beginning of the evening, as everyone waited for the scheduled 6:00 p.m. close of the legislative session, one topic of conversation was the fate of the voter ID bill in Jefferson City. Word of the defeat of the bill passed quickly down the crowded hallway.  

Greater Kansas City DFA President Joe Medley

Quite by chance we first stopped into the hospitality suite of the Greater Kansas City Democracy for America. The good folks at DFA were gracious hosts as we used their suite as a base of operations for our forays into other suites down the hall.

Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders

Candidates for seats in the General Assembly worked their way up and down the hallway, introducing themselves or being introduced to activists and labor representatives. Conversations ranged from the state of the nation to the minutiae of local campaign strategy.

At times, due to the crowd, it was nearly impossible to work your way down the hallway with any efficiency. In several instances I ended up running into political acquaintances I hadn’t seen in years or others I had just visited with last weekend at the state convention in Columbia – our extended conversations in the hall contributing to the gridlock.

The “spread” at the IBEW suite

Tomorrow’s events include a 10:30 a.m. brunch with guest speakers, a 5:30 p.m. reception with Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders, and a 7:00 p.m. Banquet with guest speaker Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Truman Days 2008 is taking place at the Hilton Garden Inn near I-70 and Little Blue Parkway in Independence.