Castro, Obama address DNC delegates

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Few choose politicians as heroes. Hoosier George Hornedo did.

Tuesday night, his hero, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, stood before a crowd during the opening day of the Democratic National Convention as its keynote speaker.

Castro set the tone Democrats had emblazoned on banners across the city that the Republicans might have built it, but the Democrats made it possible. First lady Michelle Obama continued the message to the end of the first day.

Hornedo, a page for the Indiana delegates, watched from the floor, squeezed in with delegates, the press and the public.

Hornedo said he has looked to the mayor for possibilities since he was 11 years old. Hornedo, who moved to Indianapolis before high school, was originally from San Antonio.

He said he won the spelling bee in sixth grade and was eventually a finalist in the national competition.

Castro, then a city councilman, wrote him a letter of congratulations. Hornedo remembered.

It was April 23, 2002.

Hornedo’s parents had always encouraged him and his brother to look up to Castro and Castro’s brother, also a prominent Texas politician, as Latino role models. The letter gave Hornedo a concrete reason to do so.

“He’s the definition of the American promise,” Hornedo said.

Castro is the first Latino chosen as the keynote speaker of the DNC. Many of the last few DNC keynote speakers, including Barack Obama, John Kerry and Al Gore, returned during the following presidential cycle as the Democratic presidential nominees.

Political analysts so far have said Castro could aim for a nomination as Texas governor, but only a few have asked whether he will be the 2016 presidential nominee and, possibly, the first Latino president.

Castro opened with the story of his family and the struggles through immigration and education that led them, and him, to the keynote post at the DNC.

Castro’s speech waxed and waned, eliciting laughter when he poked fun at his home state, Texas, and dropping to a quieter tone when he continued about differences in opportunity that divide students.

“We know that you can’t be pro-business unless you’re pro-education,” he said.

When he admitted he’d watched the Republican National Convention last week, the crowd booed. Castro made a face and continued, saying Obama is the president who will provide further opportunity.

He gave the Democrats scattered around the floor a chant, “Mitt Romney says no.” He applied it to same-sex couples, rebuilding the middle class and protecting
education.

“So here’s what we’re going to say to Mitt Romney in November,” Castro said. “We’re gonna say no.”

The crowd rallied even more enthusiastically behind Michelle Obama, who has enjoyed high approval ratings even among independents.

Michelle Obama’s moment began with a video outlining her past before her marriage, her time as first lady and her family. The video focused heavily on her work to promote exercise and nutrition for children.

The first lady was greeted by chanting, which didn’t cease even when she started speaking.

The beginning of Michelle Obama’s speech focused on her time visiting families across the family and the life she and her nuclear family led before the 2008 election.