The Last Night of the Convention

by: rich

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 01:34:56 AM EDT

This is what I was thinking through the day after I got bumped from the press box. I was very pissed off at the time. Here I was in Denver to blog the convention, and I’m a first-hand witness to history and...I can’t blog it

That’s why it’s called irony.

But in the grand scheme of things, all the hassles with security, long lines going in and getting out, and not being able to blog it live, are miniscule compared to the privilege I was given to be there when Sen. Barack Obama accepted our party’s nomination for President of the United States of America. This was history. One of our country's most proud moments. A barrier has been broken in our country's constant struggle to live up to its ideals.

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I can’t live-blog this event. Instead, I’m going to type my thoughts about tonight, what’s going on around me, as they come into my head, and I’ll post them later as one post. Laura and I are sitting in Section 100, row 16 of Invesco Field (which some people here refer to as "the diaphragm" given it's shape).

4:50pm Since my access to the blogger press box has been effectively cut off, this speech of Obama’s better be good. I’m also very hungry. 30 minutes online, then off, packing up my stuff and finding another place to go for an hour, then coming back hoping there’s a spot for another 30 minutes, setting up, 30 minutes online, then packing up again is not appealing, nor an effective way to work.

5:15pm, on my way to the concession stand, I passed Actress Susan Sarandon going the other way. She was wearing dark sunglasses. No, I wasn’t hallucinating.

And now that I’ve eaten my chicken tenders and some french fries, I’m feeling more sanguine about tonight.

5:24pm Ellen Burrstyn, Susan Sarandon, dude from Sweet Home Alabama, Alan Cumming, Anne Hathaway, woman from ER, are all sitting about 6 rows in front of me and Laura. Now that nearly everyone around them is standing up to take pictures of the Famous Beuatiful People, including me and Laura, they’re leaving.

Anne Hathaway forgot her jacket and came back to retrieve it.

5:30pm Middle-aged woman in row in front of us, wearing a NY Yankees hat (and a thick New Yawk accent) is dancing to “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.”

5:32pm will.i.am and John Legend are taking the stage with a choir. They’re playing “Yes We Can.” This song gives me the chills.

Everyone is waving their hands in the air.

I take some video with my digital camera.

5:38pm I take a picture of Laura with Bobble Obama. The battery on my camera dies.

5:40pm The guy on the stage is asking us to text the campaign so they can send us updates. Er, no....I hate giving out my cell phone number. Besides, I receive email updates from the Obama campaign on two email addresses.

5:46pm Sheryl Crow, she’s playing “A Change” will do you good...

I say to Laura that we (Dems) have better performers than Repubs. She agrees, “Oh, yeah.”

“A change will do us good.”

5:51pm Laura says the Yankee hat woman, who is STILL standing, is annoying. She is afterall blocking Laura’s view.

5:55pm, I spot Chicago TV News reporter Carol Marin walking by down on the floor. She’s the reporter who quit the local NBC news affiliate when they hired Jerry Springer as commentator.

5:56pm Laura manages to snag an American flag from the people who are giving them out to audience members.

5:58pm Laura spots Michigan State Rep. Steve Bieda (D-Warren) and his signature great hair walking down on the floor. As Sam Malone said, “Good looks can open doors. But great hair blows them off the hinges.”

6:01pm There’s a cameraman on the floor, panning his camera across the crowd. Laura and I make a futile attempt to get on camera: she by waving her flag, me by waving Bobble Obama.

6:03pm Mark Udall take sthe stage.

Members of the CO delegation are holdiing Udall signs.

Nice guy, but a little flat speech-wise.

6:07 Gov. Tim Kaine

Talking about being in the Peace Corps in Honduras. He speaks a few lines in Spanish.

“Move Mountain!” Nice line. If only it was as easy as saying it...

6:14pm Gov. Richardson onstage, Big cheers.

6:16pm He’s doing a call and response. Audience answers “no!” to every quetion.

The stadium is still not completely full. I’m wondering how long the lines are. The women to my right told me she and her friend waited in line for two hours. They ask me where I got the Bobble Obama and I tell them. They ask me who I write for. I tell them I’m a blogger for ML  and about the fiasco with the blogger resources in the press box. They shake their heads. When they find out that I didn’t have to wait in the same long line, they have less sympathy for me. I understand why.

6:18pm My shoulders are tense

“A president who won’t spy on America, respect a woman’s right to choose, shuts down guantanamo, and stops torture”...has the crowd cheering LOUD.

6:22pm the crowd is pounding their feet.

6:28pm  part of the crowd tries to start a “wave”. It fails four times.

6:30pm they announce that Stevie Wonder is taking the stage. He says, “I love you.”

Stevie ends the song with the crowd singing “Yes we can.”

6:37pm He’s doing “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” The crowd is standing and singing along.

6:44pm Al Gore is on the stage, my friends. Everyone is on their feet again, clapping.

6:46pm he’s finally able to start speaking.

“I believe in recycling, but that’s ridiculous.”

6:52 people in our section have stopped paying attention to Al Gore. They’re focused on a floor entrance down below to our right. We can see Tom Brokaw. There’s a small crowd of journos gathering at the entrance, but no one’s coming out. Oprah? The journos are acting paparazzi-like.

Laura says it’s too bad all this hubub in our section is happening during Al Gore’ speech. Still no idea who it is. People are trying to take pictures.

7:00pm Al Gore leaves the stage with everyone on their feet. Good speech.

8:04pm the wave goes around the stadium 4 times, all levels

8:05pm Michael McDonald on the stage. Eh.
He’s singing “America the Beautiful. “

The crowd is waving U.S. flags.

Nice. But maybe he can do something rousing like “China Grove”

7:08 Maybe not. Michale McDonald has exited the stage, and a crew is removing the keyboards.

7:11pm Susan Eisenhower takes the stage to the "Rocky" theme.

The stadium is about 97% full.

7:16pm they introduce a bunch of generals and admirals, but Wesley Clark gets by far the biggest applause.

7:18pm Scott Gration of the U.S. Air Force is speaking,

7:23 Joe Biden is up on the stage. crowd on its feet, clapping, waving flags. He spoke last night. Is there a surprise? What’s the surprise?

7:28pm Roy Gross from Michigan Teamsters local 299 in Detroit MI

Solid speech about the need for Fair Trade and the damaging policies of the Bush admin on MI.

7:30pm Monica Early, Cuyahoga Falls, OH

She talks about receiving one of the many Obama smear emails from a friend. When she did some research she found out the complete opposite of the smears.

7:32 Janet Lynn Monaco, FL

used to own her business, now she has diabetes and no health care. “George Bush and John McCain have done nothing for people like me.”

Good move by Obama campaign to bring in regular people from battleground states to talk about their personal experiences.

7:34pm  Teresa Asenap, Albequerque New Mexico,

“Strong families raise strong students.”

She leads the crowd in a chant of “Si se puede!”

7:37pm Pamela Cash-Roper, Pittsburgh?, North Carolina
“And wait ‘til you here what’s happening to me.”

“I am a lifelong Rep, who voted for Nixon, Reagan, and bush and bush. But I can’t afford four more years like this.” the crowd jumps to its feet.

7:40pm Barney Smith, Marion, Indiana
“Proud Republican”

“We need a President who puts Barney smith before Smith-Barney.”

Crowd is chanting “Barney” over and over and over.

PA system playing “Born in the U.S.A.” by the Boss. People clapping and singing along. Nevermind the savage irony of the song. I do love this song.The lyrics...

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said "Son, don't you understand"

I had a brother at Khe Sahn fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go

Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
<!-- END lyrics --> <!-- spacer -->

7:46pm CO state director Ray Rivera says campaign has had over 30,000 text message sign-ups in the last hour.

7:48pm “Power to the People”

7:51 people passing out blue “CHANGE” signs, but say don’t hold them up until the speech starts.

“Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” playing over the PA. Lots of flag waving. Is Barack up next? This crowd is primed, fired up and ready to go.

7:56pm Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois takes the stage.

Woo-hoo! I scored a ”CHANGE” sign!

Might not do a whole lot of typing during Obama speech since I’ll be waving my “CHANGE” sign.

Man next to mean scolded by the sign people for holding up his sign. He’s warned he’s supposed to wait. I tell him he might lose his sign privileges. He laughs.

8:02pm Lights go down for a video. featuring the Man Himself. Show a baby picture and the crowd goes “awwwww”

I also scored an American flag. Going to wave that with my Barack Obama “CHANGE” sign.

Wonder who’s narrating the docu-video.

People cheer when the clip showing da Chicago L appears.

“Barack Obama. I thought, who names their kid Barack Obama,” says Michelle.

wedding photo, more awww’s from the crowd.

8:11pm Obama takes the stage.
“Yes We Can!” chants just keep going. Stadium is completely full.

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Thus endeth my notes. I really can’t say enough positive things about the speech. inside the stadium, the effect was electrifying. Absolutely electrifying. I think he defanged the so-called "patriotism" issue, and the Eight is Enough line worked well, too.

Oh, one more thing! What they didn't show on TV was how everyone joined hands at the end, Obamaniacs and Clintonists, young and old, rich and poor, black, white, Latino, Asian, Gay, like this:

Good night from Denver.