I had to tune in late tonight but what I did catch caught me by surprise:
Tom Daschle sounded dull and the crowd looked restless while he spoke.
Barack Obama not only meets the hype, he exceeds it. He shared what should be the heart and soul of the Democratic party and took a swipe at my favorite targets – those that choose to sell something to us by division:
…even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America-there’s the United States of America.
There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States.
There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?
Spreading ideas and making them stick is blogging’s forte. I had heard of Obama before the convention only by reading my favorites and now their influence will touch Google and define what it points to when people search out his name. This is one idea to that will carry forward for a long time. Obama is the future of the Democratic party and like like Mr. Willis says, “the future looks good”.
Finally, Teresa Heinz Kerry did a great job introducing herself to the country last night. She will be a terrific first lady.
You can see the Barack Obama speech and more at the Kerry Edwards campaign site.
See live streaming video of the contention at the official convention site.