Obama accepts and attacks

DENVER — Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans Thursday night and wasted no time in launching a full-scale offensive against rival John McCain. 

In one of the largest political rallies in modern U.S. history, Sen. Obama (Ill.) repeatedly brought the masses to their feet as he offered promise and hope, and made it clear that he plans to battle Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) fiercely between now and November.

{mosads}While McCain was not as big a target during the rest of the week as was President Bush, in his acceptance speech Obama sharply placed the bull’s-eye on McCain, signifying that the gentle change agent of the summer is ready to fight back.

“I don’t believe that Sen. McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans,” Obama said. “I just think he doesn’t know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than 100 million Americans? How else could he offer a healthcare plan that would actually tax people’s benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?

“It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it,” the newly crowned nominee said.

Democratic strategists who have watched with fear as polls continue to show a tight race have worried that Obama has not been aggressive enough in challenging McCain. But the Illinois senator’s speech was as much a challenge to his rival as a promise of change.

While Obama did offer his loyal supporters the soaring rhetoric that drew them to his cause in the first place — he mentioned "change" 13 times — his focus was on the Arizona senator. Obama mentioned McCain or some variation of his name 39 times.

Obama laid out a laundry list of concerns affecting average Americans, and told the audience that he would tell them exactly what "change will look like" in his administration. Republicans have repeatedly charged that Obama is offering empty words short on solutions.

"Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and independents across this great land — enough!" Obama said. "This moment — this election — is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On Nov. 4, we must stand up and say: ‘Eight is enough.' ”

The Illinois senator also threw down the gauntlet, challenging McCain, a war veteran and former prisoner of war, to a debate on national security after praising the Arizona Republican for his military service.

“If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next commander in chief, that’s a debate I’m ready to have," Obama said, adding, “John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the gates of hell — but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives. We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans — have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.”
The Illinois senator also responded to each of the points of attack the McCain camp has launched on him so far, from the celebrity tag to McCain's repeated assertion that Obama would raise taxes.

On the celebrity end, Obama talked of his family's humble roots, saying, "I don’t know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as president of the United States."

And the Illinois senator repeated twice with emphasis that he will not raise taxes, saying "in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class."

The McCain campaign responded that the speech was "misleading" and Obama's remarks are "fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama."

"When the temple comes down, the fireworks end and the words are over, the facts remain: Sen. Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year and still voted against funds for American troops in harm's way," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. "The fact remains: Barack Obama is still not ready to be president."

After Obama closed, he was joined onstage by his wife and children and vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.) as fireworks went off and confetti and streamers were shot out of cannons.

Obama and Biden are scheduled to depart from Denver and embark on a swing-state bus tour. The Republican convention begins on Monday.