Opening Night!

Thanks to our professor, Sandy Davidson, I got my paws on a hall pass for tonight’s speakers. I knew this would probably be my only chance to get inside the Pepsi Center, so I seized the opportunity.

I was seated up in the nosebleed section, somewhere between the rafters and Pluto — but when you’re at the Democratic National Convention, you’ll settle for a seat somewhere in the next galaxy if you have to.

The Obama campaign is definitely doing everything it can push an all-American hero image. Tonight, the task was clear: Introduce the world to Barack Obama as a simultaneous everyman and champion, epitomizing one of the many dichotomies we Americans expect of a president. Obama was presented as a selfless man who took a $10,000-a-year job as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago when he could’ve written his own ticket to any firm on Wall Street. At the same time, he was painted as a witty guy with a “funny name” who had to ask his wife out several times before she’d even agree to let him take her on a date.

Complimenting the “American dream” image were a compilation of speakers drawn mostly from Obama’s personal life and his past as a community organizer and Illinois politician.

As much as I love Obama, and as inspiring as I personally find his biography, I’m worried. Obama’s tale is a fascinating one, but the shallow depth to which his Chicago and Illinois speakers delved was painfully apparent.

Don’t get me wrong. As far as I’m concerned, character and principle are the far better indicators of a candidate’s potential success than experience, so long as the leader surrounds himself with a competent, seasoned staff (hello, Biden!) I mean, come on. Nixon was an incredibly seasoned president, and look where he wound up.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if McCain’s people have already jumped on a “Was that the best you could do?” spin campaign. If I weren’t so mentally and physically exhausted, I’d check the political blogs for whispers (or, heck, outright shouts) from the McCain folks already.

Anywayt, one of the brightee spots of the evening was Missouri’s prominent place in the convention spotlight. Not only did Obama watch the campaign from Kansas City (home of yours truly AND Obama-Bayh Bumpersticker-Gate ’08), Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill provided the main segue into Michelle’s headlining speech.

Sure, for those familiar with Obama’s stump speeches, McCaskill’s address sounded like an amalgamation of every campaign catch-phrase Obama’s used over the last 18 months or so, but that didn’t matter. Our girl was in the spotlight. Even the major networks, which over the last several decades have pared down their coverage from gavel-to-gavel to an hour or so each night, carried McCaskill’s speech.

I was especially pleased to see McCaskill’s kids introduce their mom. The story of McCaskilll’s daughter telling mom to speak up for Obama is next to legendary among Missouri’s political junkies, and given Obama’s youth appeal, I think it made great a great story for the national stage. Overall, I’d give McCaskill a “B” grade for her speech — much better than most of the speakers, but light years behind Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Jr., and Michelle Obama, all of whom delivered speeches that managed to resuscitate a depressingly comatose crowd.

And Michelle, Michelle, Michelle. If ever there were a lady who screams “FIRST LADY” (or hell, president), she’s the woman. You could tell she had to swallow about a half-second’s worth of nerves, but once she got going, she delivered one of the most genuine speeches I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing in person. Nothing she said felt the least bit contrived or calculated. Her tip of the hat to Hillary Clinton was especially genuine. I won’t even try to describe her address, because I know I can’t do her justice. Do yourself a favor, and look her speech up on YouTube. You can thank me later ☺.

The pinnacle moment of the evening, for me (other than Ted Kennedy’s “surprise” appearance), was the moment when we saw the whole Obama family onstage, with dad appearing via satellite. If Obama pulls this election off, I have a feeling this moment is the one political scientists may well look back on years from now as the turning when the country finally accepted Obama.

The whole scene made me feel like I was privy to a sneak peak of an Obama family phone call, when daddy’s away on the campaign trail. And when Obama accidentally said he was in St. Louis instead of Kansas City (something this KC-native noticed right away), his daughter’s “Where are you again, daddy?” (winner of my personal sound byte of the day) comment quite literally saved Barack from a major gaffe. Had the Obama ladies let the city-slipup slide, I could easily have seen the McCain campaign jumping all over the little mistake, using it as a way to balance out McCain’s “oops” moment when he couldn’t recall how many houses he had.

Instead, the Obama women kept dad straight. We got a glimpse of a truly presidential family, where even the littlest ones have a stake — even if it’s just reminding a campaign-weathered daddy which city he’s in.