Tonight, Barack Obama the candidate, the celebrity, the orator, the academic…finally took a large step toward becoming Barack Obama the President. His speech did not foment with the typical Obama pie-in-the-sky rhetoric. Rather, he used tonight’s platform as an opportunity to state why he (and not McCain) should be President.
…And he did a damn good job:
Today was a little different for us. After three days in the Pepsi Center, Mike and I had it dialed. Realizing that our volunteer posts had been created by DNC staffers who solely wanted an excuse to get their friends access to the convention, we had fully digested the ‘wink-wink-nudge-nudge’ aspect of the job, and realized that our only responsibility was merely to enjoy ourselves. As such, we had spent about 35% of our time ‘volunteering’ at the Pepsi Center, and the rest of the time shmoozing, taking pictures, eating food, and wandering around.
Well…all we had to do today was show up as early as possible to Invesco and secure primo seats. (We had zero volunteer responsibilties…) And indeed, we got there early:
The morning walk there was as fun as the convention itself:
…And the mood was electric.
Anyway, we ended up getting there so early that the stadium was completely empty.
And as such, we literally got our choice of seats in the stadium: In the lower section of Mile High, there are two levels, and we sat in the front row of the upper level (for the entire day). Holy Moly…cool. We even had iPhone / Blackberry slots in our cup holders:
A few hours after sitting down, I got interviewed by Al Jazeeara (you can see the whole thing under the ‘Al Jazeera Interview’ link on the right), which was pretty cool:
…Anyway, the final day of the convention rocked. It seems like politics is all about expectations, and admittedly, the high expectations put on tonight’s performance made us a bit nervous. I mean seriously, Obama was going to speak in front of Greek columns…But, like the Clinton political mastermind of Tuesday and Wednesday, Obama delivered brilliantly.
The Repubs had been ridiculing him for demagoguery, (perhaps lowering expectations and playing right into Obama’s hands…) but, if there is any person who can nail a speech in front of seventy thousand plus…it’s our man Obama.
What’s more, I imagine that it’s gotta be pretty tough criticizing a person who brings tens of thousands into the political fray.
Anyway…It also helps that our kick-ass Laureate, Gore, got the crowd all fired up for him:
…And lastly, some mad props need to be given to Stevie Wonder.
