So, so optimistic on Day 4 of the DNC
By Dana Stewart
Published: August 29th, 2008 | 11:00am
Guess who’s coming to dinner?
The Obamas are moving into the White House. Well, that’s not certain yet, but I kept thinking of the phrase during Thursday’s proceedings of the Democratic National Convention. It’s entirely possible (more than likely, if you ask me) that a black family will be moving into the White House within six months.
That possibility became real for nearly 80,000 people in Denver on the fourth day of the DNC. At Invesco Field, Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democratic party for President, and the event captured the attention of the entire world.
Tickets for this event were made available to the public, but 50,000 was nowhere near enough for all the people who would have liked to be there. I heard people say the “community credential” public tickets — which were free but did seem to end up in the hands of the wealthy and connected more than the diligent volunteer or Obama supporter — were harder to come by than Super Bowl seats.
The whole event was bafflingly large, and there was extremely poor communication on the part of the DNC and the city of Denver about how all these thousands of people were supposed to get in and out of the stadium. (The field, home of the Denver Broncos NFL team, is technically called “Invesco Field at Mile High,” in reference to the fact that the real Broncos stadium was called Mile High stadium and was torn down and rebuilt by some company called Invesco. This is a source of much contention among locals, and when Obama referred to the stadium as “Mile High” on Wednesday night, he apparently won big PR points among Bronco fans.)
It took me almost three hours to commute from my sister’s Denver house — located six miles from the stadium — to actually taking my seat. I was herded by clueless yet angry police, watched people get in fights about cutting in line, and thought about selling my bottle of water to the highest bidder at one point. Needless to say, the journey into the stadium, including a line that was rumored to be two miles long at one point, was less than fun.
After our Bataan Death March bonding experience, we Democrats were ready to see some show-stopping displays of rhetorical gymnastics and couldn’t wait to “be a part of history” (as the T-shirts and buttons and airbrushed bed-sheet banners said). Truly, it was an event that had “historical significance” written all over it; this is the first time a convention has been “opened” to the public since JFK in Los Angeles in 1960, and today was also the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech in Washington, D.C.
Unfortunately I was still out in line when everyone’s favorite Dreamgirl, Jennifer Hudson, sang the National Anthem, and gymnast Shawn Johnson did the Pledge of Allegiance. Around 5 p.m., Party Chair Howard Dean gave a textbook cheerleading speech, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson did his best to reach out to his fellow Latinos, no doubt at the behest of the Obama campaign. Al Gore gave the best non-Obaman speech of the night, with his characteristic encyclopedic knowledge of democracy; Gore also seems to be a better speaker now than he was in 2000, which is either great or unfortunate depending on how you see it.
The night was not without its celebrities, although Oprah Winfrey stayed safely secluded in a private box. Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am sang his hit viral-video song, “Yes We Can” alongside his buddy John Legend. The song is an Obama speech, repeated verbatim but set to music by will.i.am (I suppose we all have to indulge his creative spelling). Perennial singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow sang a couple tunes, although she made the poor choice of doing an unknown number that she prefaced as being “inspired by the Dalai Llama’s speech on compassion.”
Everyone loves Stevie Wonder, and veteran CBS newscaster Bob Schieffer charmed the crowd in front of the CBS platform by dancing with his coworkers, all smiles, during “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” by Wonder. Delegates in front of their stand turned to the CBS staff and started chanting “C-B-S! C-B-S!” when their little dance number was over, a welcome change from the fierce indifference shown by the guys in the MSNBC booth during the convention proceedings. If you’ve ever wondered if the talking heads on TV actually watch these speeches, the answer is no, not usually — I watched George Stephanopolous check his Blackberry throughout Al Gore’s speech, and most of the newscasters did the same, watching little screens on their laps instead of the speeches or musical performances going on behind them. That all changed, of course, when Obama took the stage. I think even the cast of FOX news was paying attention when he gave his speech.
Upon taking the stage, Obama received a good seven minutes of standing, screaming, ovation, at the end of which he really seemed to want people to stop. The speech was typically charismatic, and you could tell he was trying to silence the critics who say he doesn’t have enough “substance” or specifics on how he will enact the change he describes. He talked about every issue one could imagine, it would seem, and struck a confident and appealing pose in regards to his forthcoming showdown with John McCain. The crowd of 80,000 was entirely respectful during his speech; I doubt it has ever been that quiet at a Broncos game.
When he was done speaking, Obama was joined onstage by his wife and daughters, and then Joe and Jill Biden, who joined Barack and Michellle for the power-four photo op. They really do make an attractive team. When Barack and Michelle left the stage, together and at the very end, they shared a moment at the end of the podium that seemed romantic, true, and very touching, before it was all over and we had to herd back out into the street.
Getting out of the stadium was no easy thing, and it truly didn’t help that no more than one out of every 1,000 people had any real information about what was going on. But, and perhaps I will take this as a sign, I ended up on a train going to my destination in no more than 30 minutes after leaving Mile High; it was much easier than I thought it might be. I had a nice conversation on the train with a couple from New York and stated my opinion that, “Yep, he’s going to win.” The woman was skeptical, and said she “admired my optimism.”
Is it optimistic? Or is it just reality? Of course the truth will come in about two months, but I don’t think it’s being naïve to think Obama is a remarkable candidate, running against one who is decidedly less remarkable. This was an incredible thing, the process of nominating him. To see all those thousands of people, (and “regular” people, too, not just politicos like at smaller parts of the Convention) excited and individually convinced in his talent and importance, makes one think, logically, there’s a good chance he can win. I’m convinced that this race would be over if it were actually “about the issues,” as New York Times columnist David Brooks says. But it’s not really about the war, or the economy, or heath care. It’s a political game, and for that reason McCain and Obama are still relatively close in the polls. This event in Denver, however, was a huge PR coup for the Democrats, and just may have been their game-winning stroke.
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MORE COVERAGE OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
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