Well, I have to wake up in only a few hours to catch a plane to Denver to attend the AIA reception there, but here I am glued to the television screen. Earlier in the evening, political commentators on every channel argued that this first night of the Democratic convention was lacking in substance and vigor. Senator Claire McCaskill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Rep. Jim Leach, a former Republican, among others took the stage. Neither represented the excitement a political party would want to present on opening night. And no speaker spoke about why Obama should be president and why McCain should not. As CNN put it, "You only have people's attention for a few nights," you need to take advantage of it.
But then we saw a tribute to Ted Kennedy, a scion in our political culture. As James Carville noted on CNN, no one--from any political background, belief, or opinion--could not be touched by the tribute to Kennedy. His long public service (only Robert Byrd and Strom Thurmmond are/were longer serving Senators) is truly astounding. Hearing him speak, one could not help feeling as though we are reaching the end of an era. No family has impacted American politics like the Kennedy clan. The Clintons and Bushes have much more to do to have anywhere close to as big of an imprint on our culture as the Kennedys...for good or bad.
Then came the potential future first lady. Michelle Obama's role would seem to be to give us an idea of Barack Obama as a person. What she did was more extraordinary.
"THE WORLD AS IT IS JUST WON'T DO; WE HAVE TO FIGHT FOR WHAT IT SHOULD BE"
Michelle Obama said those words in arguing what she and her husband have been working towards the last 19 years, and why there is such momentum behind their, yes "their," campaign. She touched on the important timing of this convention (88 years this week since women received the right to vote and 45 years since Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech). She took this opportunity to connect the Obamas to their working class roots to make them seem like every other American family. Instead of a pure bio speech--a common theme of the spouse's convention remarks--she framed the beliefs of the Obama nation. And trying to bring the Hillary devotees, she made sure to pay homage to Senator Clinton, saying she "put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling so our daughters and our suns can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher."
A night that started out slow and took a lot of criticism from the political pundits of the world quickly sped up with the inspirational tribute to Kennedy and the stirring words of Michelle Obama. Once pegged as a liability (Michelle Obama once famously said that "for the first time" she was proud to be an American), many can argue tonight that she is Barack Obama's greatest asset.
Did the Dems start out too slow? Are they taking cues from the 2004 Kerry convention and leaving the election unframed and missing the opportunity to peg themselves against McCain and Bush? What did you take from tonight's events?
Tomorrow, we head to Denver and see the convention firsthand. Check back and read our impressions and hear about experiences. And don't forget to share with us your take on all the proceedings this week and next!
--Hannah--