Obama's speech was electric--it was like a thunderstorm from Mile High Stadium. And I think I can say that even though I was way back in the cheap seats at home, hosting a convention watch party in a room full of Democrats ready to get charged up again and go back into the fray.

There I was, listening to him going through the opening paragraphs, hoping he'd deliver something somehow more than "workmanlike," as it was billed prior, in a deliberate attempt to deflate expectations. I was a bit drowsy and distracted, not necessarily from the Convention itself and the endless chatter coming from it during the week, but really from a 2-3 month hiatus from political activity, after I hit serious burnout from the seemingly endless primaries. It feels like that was a long, long time ago.

And then, suddenly, like a peal of thunder, Obama laid into it:

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough! This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."

He just about barked that first "enough!" and it made me snap to, bubbles of drowsiness popping around my head... "huh? what? Oh, I see. I see how it's going to be!"

It was the opening salvo of a speech that was punctuated with multiple, strong broadsides against the Bush-McCain record and the utter bankruptcy of the Republican agenda.  To put it another way, his speech rolled forth over 43 minutes, built up, receded, and built again to the peroration, punctuated as if by lightning bolts or the powerful crescendos of a Beethoven symphony, yet never losing the soaringly lyrical touch for which his speeches are often known. (The only way to describe it, I think, is to reach for metaphor, and I find myself looking for the right metaphor to help me say what I mean... Forgive me if my language is a jumble of metapors, from meteorological to martial, back to meteorological and now musical.) Amazing effort, very different than any other speech I've seen or heard him give.

Full speech:

Like a warm, summer rain drenching a parched field, his speech gave the grassroots just the charge it needed.

And it was good.

- dave //

Just absorbing the news, which will be all the rage this weekend, about Biden. Was musing earlier w/ my dad about why Clinton might be appealing before the news came, and why as well she ultimately couldn't work. It came down to the "Big Dog," Mr. Bill. A world-class narcissist w/ warehouses full of baggage, there was just no way that "No Drama" Obama could take that kind of trouble on. As The Nation's Nichols says:

It is true that Obama might also have gotten what he needed by adding New York Senator Hillary Clinton to his ticket, just as it is true that Obama might have been able to run with Clinton. But he could not run with Bill Clinton, and that was that.

How do I feel about Biden? Pretty good, but I'm wary of some things, like Biden's criticism of Obama during the primaries and how Republicans will use that; like Biden's propensity for putting his foot in his mouth; like Biden's thoroughgoing insiderism, which doesn't exactly substantiate a campaign predicated on the theme of change. Ultimately, I think he'll be a great 2nd and forceful advocate.

- dave //

Around 10 pm PST tonight (Friday), started seeing the chatter about Obama's VP pick being Biden. Shortly thereafter, the major MSM news sites began to firm up/confirm the choice. This, the NY Times headline:

Must say I had rather hoped that the world would be held in utter suspense until that txt message went out (expect that to come around 8 am PST tomorrow, unless they move it up now that the cat is out of the bag). There would've been something amazingly disciplined and egalitarian and modern if it took the txt message to make it known to us all, not the traditional reporting institutions. Sigh.

- dave //

It's time, my friends. The summer hiatus is over. Change is coming, and a sign of that is for you to behold in this new vid:

- dave //