Approving a party platform is a standard-issue agenda item at political conventions. But the DNC stumbled over its own feet with this year's platform because its planks regarding the housing crisis, immigration and the defecit point to Obama's failure to fulfill the campaign promises from the last national convention.

Housing Crisis The platform reads like a love letter to the middle class but the housing plank seems to be made of so many sweet nothings.

The platform complains that "too many people still owe more on their homes than they are worth."

But after Obama poured immense amounts of money into the financial system and the auto industry to revive the economy, he ran out of the political will to bailout homeowners. Instead of helping underwater homeowners with mass-scale principal reductions, Obama decided to save banks from further losses and implemented a limited aid program instead. Obama relegated the task of refinancing mortgages to banks but passed no legislation to compel them to do so.

Wall Street Reform The Obama administration passed the Dodd-Frank bill in 2010 to bring more transparancy to financial markets, reign in "too big to fail" banks and create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But many see the legislation as incomplete, if not impotent, as evidenced by the massive losses suffered by JP Morgan in a botched credit bet. Perhaps the biggest indictment of Dodd-Frank is its support from the top Wall Street lobbying firm, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The firm favors upholding Dodd-Frank in order to prevent stricter regulations from passing. 

Immigration The Democratic platform promises "comprehensive immigration reform"  and claims "the Southwest border is more secure than at any time in the past 20 years. Unlawful crossings are at a 40-year low, and the Border Patrol is better staffed than at any time in its history."

Unable to push the DREAM Act through Congress, Obama did manage to pass the Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals which allows the offspring of undocumented immigrants to apply to stay in the U.S. to work and study without threat of deportation. The program falls short of liberal immigration reform or an amnesty program. It has drawn fire from law enforcement, too. A group of immigration officers filed suit against the Obama administration in August, claiming the program restricted them from performing their jobs in accordance with existing laws.

Agriculture has suffered the biggest hit in the immigration debate, as many farmers are struggling to harvest crops because the migratory flow of workers between Mexico and the U.S. has dwindled to a trickle.

Deficit The platform promises the Dems are "committed to extending the middle class tax cuts for the 98 percent of American families who make less than $250,000 a year, and we will not raise taxes on them."

Any solution to the national deficit will require unpopular budget decisions and Obama has hasn't had the stomach to tell the public the difficult truth that the Bush-era tax cuts, which Obama extended, are untenable in the face of massive public debt.

Same sex rights The platform includes a call to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and advocates for full protection under the law for same-sex couples, including the right to marry. Obama repealed the Don't Ask Don't tell policy in the armed services but the president has been slow to support gay marriage rights. He announced his support for gay marriage in May but only after remarks by Biden prodded him into that position.

 

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