I watched the speech on CSPAN and I had tears in my eyes the whole time.
His policy points that everyone seemed so intent on his making over the past two weeks were WHAT AMERICANS WANT. Or at least a large number of them. They were points and policies that John McCain would never support and W certainly never would.
That is what change is.
Were there a couple of snigglies that I wanted to hear and didn't? Of course there were but I would trade 29 points that I agree with millions of other Americans on that he DID talk about for those two or three that he didn't any day of the week.
I was particularly touched by the "mutual responsibility" and "personal responsibility", for that has been what I have been talking about on these boards for lo these many years. Is it the removal of money and capitalism in the vision and mold of the RBE, certainly not, but it is close enough to the kernel of spirit at the heart of what I have envisioned as the RBE. And it is perhaps presented in a way that a few conservatives can come half way towards in order to have consensus.
The convention hit all the right notes over the last few days. It was beautifully crafted as all conventions are these days while at the same time having the uncertainty of the Clinton factor hanging over early on.
The Republicans may be secretly hoping for Gustav to hit so that McCain can run down there and get some camera time of him barking orders at people to unpack those bottled water pallets and get this generator running but also so they have time to re-tool their show and find out if they can rent the stadium in Minneapolis.
Obama inspires me. Obama makes me want to listen to that Lee Greenwood song and sing along in my front yard. As they said many times tonight, he fulfills that promise that we make to our children. You can be anything you want to be. Obama's story made me want to wake my son up and tell him that.
My sense of Obama is certainly different from all the other politicians on the scene. He strikes me as wise. Perhaps he doesn't know the names of leaders of countries. Perhaps he needs a teleprompter to help remember the words of his speech even though he knows the emotion and thought he is trying to express but I admire his humility, his subtlety, his openess, his honesty.
Most of all, I never see doubt or uncertainty or fear in his eyes. The first time I saw W on TV, I saw that fear. His ego was so extreme that I could see his fear of being tripped up in his eyes. As anyone who has done character studies can tell you, ego types hide their fear in bluster, braggadoccio and bullying. As a former ego type, I can attest to all of the above.
I sometimes would catch that fear in Howard Dean's eyes in the early days of the campaign and it scared me but I chose to ignore it as many of his supporters, I'm sure did. Obama is different. He's not aloof. He's not distant. He's honest with himself and whoever pays attention to him.
Tonight, he proved that he deserves the nomination and that deal is sealed. Anything other than total praise of his speech or at the very least acknowledgement of his amazing and historical accomplishments is nothing more than outright cynical, political pettiness.
August 28th, 2008 will be something to remember for those of us with Hope.
