Obama’s Convention
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The Obamas talk to Dad Jetsons-style on stage at the Democratic Convention.
Last night the Democratic National Convention kicked off in Denver, Co. last night. Everyone who has put pen to paper since has raved about Michelle Obama’s striking performance and the emotional appeals to the American Dream from a terminally ill Ted Kennedy, a guy who has been to so many Democratic conventions that it’s hard to imagine that any one could ever be his last. Both their speeches were inspiring to be sure, though the whole experience was blunted by the massive wall of cynicism that stands between me and admiration for any figure in national politics. I was slow to join the Obama bandwagon (not out of any love for Hillary Clinton, mind you) and now I’m just as reluctant to give into any idea other than we’re getting ready to send a seriously badass motherfucker to the White House.
So, mostly, what strikes me about this convention is that for the first time in a while it actually seems like a gathering of winners. All of a sudden, thanks chiefly to George W. Bush and secondarily to Obama and his star-power, the Democrats are behaving like a party that can win and a party that can govern. They know they’re the shit and they’re going to flaunt it.
I think the best moment from the convention so far that illustrates this point is the one I pulled the picture up top from. This was a moment of pure political stagecraft wherein the Michelle and the girls checked in with Barack in Kansas City via satellite, where he is, it seems, watching the convention with the common folk. Pretty nice touch and also not a bad campaign move. Barack isn’t even in attendance at the convention, which gives them all the reason they need to move it into a 70,000 seat stadium when he gets there. It also gives them this mechanism with which he can check in and out of the proceedings periodically via satellite. And it also gives him a bit of a common touch: at the gathering of party insiders, Barack Obama isn’t even there.
September 1st, 2008 at 6:29 pm
It was unspeakably cute seeing the girls (especially Sasha) steal the show. They hid their disappointment well.