Ovations, Oprah’s BFF, and keeping the Dream alive = Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention
By Dana Stewart
Published: August 26th, 2008 | 11:45am
I think the quadrennial Democratic (and Republican) Conventions are a lot like the Olympics. Take away a couple hundred thousand people, a whole ton of athletic talent, add the coronation of a Democratic Presidential nominee, and you’ve got the DNC. Hordes of people and millions of dollars are descending on Denver this week, and it’s hard to quantify the amount of emotional output incurred by this event.
Having never seen one of these conventions live in person — and being an amateur political/news junkie — I jumped at the opportunity. Truly, I had no idea what to expect; so far, the Democrats have not disappointed.
The check-in process with the DNC on Sunday, August 24, was extremely easy; the press-credential check-in was similarly smooth. I even made out with a swag bag from the Democratic Party, complete with a bottle of aspirin, a democracy-themed water bottle, and a bag of Presidential Roast coffee. The rest of my Sunday was spent wandering around downtown Denver, though I missed the big protest that stopped traffic for a while at the intersection of Colfax and Broadway streets. I saw the kids from Food Not Bombs serving food out the back of a school bus, surrounded by Ralph Nader posters. Also witnessed a celebration from the Denver Indian Center, which was colorful and exciting. In the evening, I made my way to the Performing Arts Center to see a free performance by New York’s Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky. He performed an art piece, video instillation with live DJing by Spooky, inspired by a trip to Antarctica. The piece was beautiful, if a bit headache-inducing, and had some chilling messages about climate change, ideas that will no doubt be echoed later on in the week by Al Gore.
Monday was the first real day of the convention, and before party chair Howard Dean “gaveled” the meeting to order at 3 p.m., I wandered (in circles) around the Pepsi Center. What locals refer to as “The Can,” the Pepsi Center is completely unrecognizable as a sports venue, and filled up throughout the afternoon with press people, mostly jaded and bored-looking, and excited state delegates, replete with crazy cheerleading gear. Never far from sight was the police presence, which is intense in Denver this week. I know for sure I saw Secret Service, Denver City cops, multiple Colorado sheriffs and police, and a bunch of anonymous-looking guys with those twirly-cord earpiece things (CIA? NSA? FBI? Who knows).
Aside from the speakers, I saw a number of FP’s (famous people) in the Pepsi Center Monday afternoon. I watched an interview with Oprah BFF Gayle King and passed Late Show with David Letterman producer Biff Henderson on the escalator. Perhaps most exciting was seeing the entire cast of The Daily Show, minus Jon Stewart and Samantha Bee. I was too embarrassed and star-struck to ask for a photo, but I did say, “Hey, love the show, man!” to correspondent Jason Jones, who smiled nicely and said thanks. Also, before I got to the Pepsi Center, I got to watch Obama’s VP pick Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) order barbeque at a photo op on the 16th street mall. It was hard to get a clear visual for all the TV cameras, and only when I saw the clip on the news later did I realize how close I came to the candidate – no more than five feet at one point. Once I did take a seat in the convention center, I watched Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) get interviewed by an unknown news organization not three feet below where I was sitting.
The mood in the Pepsi Center was calm, almost bored, until close to 6 p.m. when the big-name speakers started up. For the first few hours, there was a definite lull in speakers; a lot of Committee Co-Chairs, State Senators I’d never heard of, even the Comptroller of Illinois made an appearance. A bit, ahem, dry, if you ask me —nothing like a Comptroller to put butts in seats. This, in addition to the interminable “America’s Town Hall” bit, which was an excuse for the Democrats to trot out experts on their various platform issues, to give pre-scripted answers to pre-taped video questions from “real Americans.” They plan on repeating this Town Hall thing each night; a good time to take a bathroom break from now on.
Singer John Legend perked things up a bit with an inspirational number, complete with rainbow-bedecked multi-faith backing choir. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gave a predictably partisan speech, which caused excited furor from the California delegation. The real fireworks began with the dashing and charismatic Jesse Jackson Jr., who gave an eloquent speech relating the Obama candidacy with civil rights, and even comparing the Denver DNC to the Selma Bus Boycotts in terms of historical significance at one point. Soon after Jackson came another famous name, Caroline Kennedy. She made characteristically classy remarks to introduce a video about her uncle, Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy. The Senator, who has recently been diagnosed with a particularly nasty brain cancer, was not on the official schedule of speakers. Nonetheless, he made a rousing, ovation-inducing speech, where he continued the theme set by others of “torch-passing” — the idea being that JFK had a Dream (perhaps similar to MLK’s), which was then passed to his brother Bobby, which was then passed to Ted Kennedy, who is now passing it to the Obamas. It was pretty convincing stuff, to be sure, and Kennedy’s speech was by far the high point of the evening.
The night’s headliner was the always-fashionable Michelle Obama, who didn’t disappoint in a green v-neck number and characteristically impeccable hair. Obama was introduced by her brother, Craig Robinson, who helped paint the portrait of Michelle as a successful, loving, brilliant, and charismatic woman who also is married to a guy named Barack. There were some touching remembrances of the initial courtship between Michelle and Barack, and combined with narration by Grandma and a charming appearance by the two girls, Malia and Sasha, painted the Obamas as entirely likable and no doubt gained them a few poll points.
The most important lesson of the day, however, was this: The inside of the convention center is air-conditioned to about 54 degrees. And this was supposed to be the “green” convention. Definitely something to keep in mind when getting dressed for tomorrow.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Dana Stewart is a Venus Zine writer and videographer. Check venuszine.com for updates on the 2008 Democratic National Convetion.
Issue #35
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