Swept away by the power of Obamamania

DENVER

Sometimes it's easy to view national political conventions through the narrowest of lenses.

Will there be a bounce? Is there momentum? Is the base motivated?

The Democratic National Convention here was different, and not just because Barack Obama can deliver a hell of a speech.

It transcended the typical convention conventions because people were talking mostly about issues. There was plenty of red meat, too, but this convention didn't have that "anybody but" indifference to the nominee.

Obama fever hit a madness in this city that reached a crescendo Thursday night when the Illinois senator became the first black man to accept his party's nomination for president.

When you cover politics, you see great speeches that move people to tears. But the mile-high thunder of pounding feet on the metal floors of Invesco Field amounted to the cheering of a man who created a movement and continues to harness its power.

The Obama campaign lives and breathes the metrics of battleground state politics. And they know how to move voters toward them in states as diverse as Nevada and Georgia.

They also know the Republican playbook well, and Obama took it head-on Thursday.

What you didn't see from cable news were the real people leading up to Obama's speech. Average people, although highly coached and scripted, who flawlessly nailed short speeches to 75,000.

Barney Smith of Indiana described the economic stress his town is under since the local plant closed. A Republican supporting Obama, he said: "I want a government that works for Barney Smith, not Smith Barney."

Celebrities? Obama seated real people in the front rows down alongside his family. Reno's Xiomara Rodriguez was one of them.

"I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine," Obama said. "Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep the promise alive as president of the United States."

Obama lumped John McCain into the Washington of old and questioned his judgment on Iraq and Afghanistan.

"John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives," Obama ripped.

The message was clear -- sound judgment can trump years of experience.

In recent years the Republican Party has laid claim to everything from the commander in chief title right down to the American flag.

Obama grabbed it back Thursday, turning Invesco into a waving field of red, white and blue and getting Democrats fired up enough to start the "U-S-A" chant.

Patriotism?

"The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag," he said. "They have not served a Red America or a Blue America -- they have served the United States of America."

Obama made it clear he will not be swiftboated on patriotism. He will not be torn down in an election based on "small things" either.

The campaign put on a real show to reach out to independent and Republican voters -- presenting Dwight Eisenhower's granddaughter Susan Eisenhower. She embodied the face of the GOP in her high-collared power red suit while she said, "Yes we can."

There was a stage full of generals, too.

But Obama took the transcendence to a new height in his speech when he actually described the differences between the two parties in what I believe should now be entered into political dictionaries.

Obama said McCain simply subscribes to the old Republican economic philosophy of giving more to the rich and hoping it trickles down.

"In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is -- you're on your own," Obama said. "Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps -- even if you don't have boots. You're on your own."

Obama didn't just make a promise to voters Thursday, he talked about the promise of America in hopeful terms.

Just feet from the podium, Nevada's delegation watched and wiped tears from their eyes.

Obama insisted it's OK to dream.

The power of this convention is unlike any I've watched or covered in person. In four days the Democratic Party unified, unveiled energy and economic policies and restored its brand.

The Obama delegates that were so angered by Hillary and Bill Clinton's tactics this election year are now letting them back into the fold. "I like Bill Clinton again," one said.

John Kerry poked fun at himself brilliantly, using his reputation as a flip-flopper to call out McCain as one. We'll debate McCain, he said, after he finishes debating himself.

And then there was Al Gore, not just invoking what could have been, but reminding how close this election will be.

The Invesco event was a brilliant spectacle with the candidate's children dancing in the confetti and watching the fireworks above.

But it was Obama's "American Promise" that should prove the most spectacular to voters this year.

Contact Erin Neff at (702) 387-2906 or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.