As stated on www.hoyer.house.gov/about, “Congressman Steny H. Hoyer represents Maryland’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties and portions of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties. A resident of Mechanicsville serving his 14th term in Congress, Congressman Hoyer became the longest-serving Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland in history on June 4, 2007.
“In November 2006, Congressman Hoyer was elected by his colleagues in the Democratic Caucus to serve as House Majority Leader in the 110th Congress. His election as Majority Leader – which is the second-highest position in the House – makes him the highest-ranking Member of Congress from Maryland in history.”
On the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO, Hoyer invited the media to join him for a candid conference call. The conference call lasted about 30 minutes and the participating media were free to ask questions in the open phone forum.
Hoyer made a brief opening statement to the media stating that he was pleased to be part of the democratic process and that he was excited by the coming nomination of Barack Obama and his stand calling for a fundamental change in the way the United States is governed.
“In ’06 the democratic commitment to fix what is wrong with America was not fully realized because of Republican obstructionism and presidential vetoes,” said Hoyer. “The Obama-Biden ticket brings with it a winning voice for change and broad experience.”
The affable majority leader of the House went on to say that most Americans see the country as being on the wrong track and that the mood at the convention is jubilant when they see Sen. Obama’s commitment to change what is wrong with America.
Hoyer explained that he felt the rift between Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton is not as big as people have been led to believe. He stated that many things are said between candidates of the same party when vying for the nomination. However, he insisted that Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton both are against the same style of leadership that the country has endured for the past 8 years and that, putting aside a few hurt feelings, were both going to work to see to it that the Obama-Biden ticket is victorious in November.
When asked about the fact that some see the selection of Sen. Joe Biden as a running mate to be in opposition to the candidate’s call for change, Hoyer stated that Sen. Biden has a great deal of experience in foreign policy and national security. He said that Sen. Obama’s depth of knowledge about domestic issues, coupled with Sen. Biden’s foreign policy and national security credentials made them an even more viable team.
“The agent of change is the president,” said Hoyer. “The role of the vice president is to assist in making that change.”
Many are waiting for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s speech to the convention on Tuesday, Aug. 26 to find out indeed if the party can become unified and work together to elect their nomi