posted by Ari Berman on 08/29/2008 @ 3:29pm
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After weeks and days and hours of anticipation, when Obama finally spoke, all 84,000 inside Mile High Stadium knew that we were witnessing one of those signature moments in political history. I'm not sure just how good
Obama's speech was, but it was certainly on par with those great convention oratories of the past--Jesse Jackson, Mario Cuomo, Jack and Bobby and Teddy Kennedy--that moved me and so many others to get interested in politics.
Obama shattered the myth that he was too soft to take on John McCain, too vague to talk about what he'd actually do as president, too intellectual to relate to the struggles of millions of Americans. But in the end, the speech won't be remembered for its pugnacity or its details, but rather--like Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech"--for its vision. Obama finally moved the political discourse and the Democratic Party into the 21st century. As he put it: "We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past."
The genius of the Democratic convention this week was to present Obama's unique odyssey as a genuinely American story, replete with tear-jerking tales of struggle and loss, comforting images of families and community (who, at this point, doesn't love Michelle and the kids?), and the constant waving of American flags.
Said Obama:
I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.
But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.
For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.
America, this is one of those moments.
The speech, and the fireworks that followed, marked a fitting conclusion to the most exciting Democratic convention I've witnessed. After a relentless amount of media hype about a Clinton-Obama rift in the party, Hillary and Bill Clinton delivered two magnificent speeches, with President Clinton reminding Democrats why they fell in love with him in the first place. Joe Biden and his family helped redefine Obama's ticket, moving it away from the stereotype of elite, effete intellectuals and back toward the scrappy and the salt of the earth. Who could forget Biden's story about how his Irish mother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden, told him--after getting beat up by bigger boys as a kid--to go back out and "bloody their nose." There were other, more unexpected, stars as well. Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer spoke passionately about energy independence. John Kerry (yes, John Kerry) gave the speech of his lifetime, brilliantly reclaiming patriotism and assailing John McCain. A carefully selected yet still captivating crew of ordinary Americans almost stole the show before Obama's speech.
Go back and
watch these speeches. They'll make Democrats proud.
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