This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: August 28, 2008 - DENVER - The afterglow of last night's historic moment still was evident this morning when jubilant Missouri delegates gathered for one final business breakfast meeting and talked about Barack Obama's unexpected appearance at the Democrati convention on Wednesday night. He showed up following vice presidential hopeful Joe Biden's acceptance speech and, as usual, electrified the crowd -- a charismatic candidate who happens to be African American, the first member of his race to win the party's presidential nomination.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, kept the flame burning at the delegation's breakfast when he told of a lesson he learned in 1990 from a visit to a bigoted little town in western Kansas. A minister, Cleaver was there attending a church function and later went to a diner.
After waiting about half an hour to be served, Cleaver said he politely stopped the waitress and ordered tea. When he asked for sugar, the waitress shot back that she already had brought him sugar and added, "You stir what you got."
Cleaver said he realized in hindsight that the waitress had a point that would serve Democrats well. He said the party had the right message and the right candidate to win in November and that all party members have to do is "stir what we got."
His story, which began in a deprecating manner and culminated in the cadences of a Baptist preacher, brought watery-eyed, hand-clapping delegates to their feet just as Obama had electrified them the night before.
In a more serious tone, at the beginning of his speech, Cleaver, himself a Clinton supporter, touched on the division within the party. The division had been apparent yesterday among women who felt Hillary Rodham Clinton deserved serious consideration for the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket. During the Missouri primary, Clinton won 41 delegates and Obama 45. The remaining two of Missouri's 88 delegates were uncommitted. At yesterday's voting, all but six of Clinton's 41 delegates cast ballots for Obama who won 82 Missouri delegates in all. The switch among Clinton's supporters suggested progress had been made in healing the party.
But Cleaver said, "There is some tension still in the party. It is real. Let us be careful about what we say and how we say it" because there are people who want to exploit comments and increase the tension. He offered no names.
At the same time, Cleaver said the party had plenty of things going for it.
"Last night was a clear picture of why I'm a Democrat. This is the only party in the country that knows how to include anyone regardless of background, race or religion."
But he said Democrats nationwide and Missouri, in particular, still have a lot of work. "The nation is going to depend on Missouri," Cleaver said. "If we win Missouri, Barack Obama will be sworn in. That means we've got to work hard."
Another breakfast speaker, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon, praised the Obama team for wanting to run a bottom-up campaign to get the grassroots involved.
"People from across Missouri will ask us what we took from what you heard" at the convention, Nixon said. "It's our local action that will get this done. We have had an opportunity already to retire a Republican governor (Matt Blunt) and a Republican treasurer (Sarah Steelman)."
He added that Missouri was being held back by Republican policies that made it difficult for young people to afford college, deprived children and others of health insurance and made it hard for residents to find good- paying jobs.
"We can't let those priorities continue in our state," Nixon said. "We must move in a new direction by investing in human capital. We've got to turn this state around."
