Posted by student SANFORD JOHNSON – Thursday night I was in a packed stadium with over 80,000 screaming fans. The vast majority of us were cheering for the same team. As we expected, our team rose to the occasion, and energized the crowd in a remarkable fashion. As the night’s festivities came to a close, we filed out of the stadium with a great appreciation for what we just saw, along with a stronger commitment to supporting our team. People could be seen recounting the events on their cell phones, while other went on a mad dash for any souvenir that would prove that they were there to witness it.
Usually, the previous paragraph would be a good description of a football game in the Southeastern Conference. But this time, I’m speaking about the last night of the Democratic National Convention, where Senator Barack Obama accepted the presidential nomination at Invesco Field in Denver. As I described in my previous post, two close friends and I drove 16 hours overnight just to make it to Denver for this event. The following is my take on the experience, both from a political and a historical perspective.
Politically speaking, the final night of the convention was a fitting end to a four-day effort to rally the party behind the nominee. The first three nights were filled with speeches that enabled Democrats and other Americans to celebrate the historic party primary, understand what’s at stake this fall, and unite behind the nominee. As I stood in line, I came across people that would’ve preferred to have Senator Hillary Clinton as the nominee. But after three days of the convention, including great speeches from Michelle Obama and the Clintons, these Hillary supporters were ready to support Obama, or at least give Obama the opportunity to earn their support later that night.
My take on Obama’s acceptance speech might not be a shining example of fair and balanced reporting. The Illinois senator has been my BFF for quite some time now. Having said that, I feel that he met each objective he needed to in his acceptance speech. He reached out to Clinton supporters, energized his own supporters, and spoke about his policy positions in a clear and specific way. He also went after Republican candidate John McCain, which really fired up the crowd (imagine 80,000 people saying “ooooooooh” with each one-liner). Obama’s mission was to combine his master oratory skills with policy specifics that would highlight his readiness to be president. I think he was two for two.
But while this was a major political event, we drove to Denver to witness history. Eighty-four thousand people celebrated the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech by seeing an African American accept a major party presidential nomination for the first time. There were entire families that came from all across the country to see this, which added a family reunion feel to the night. I can’t even begin to describe the emotion felt in that stadium when the entire Obama family stood on that stage. What I enjoyed the most, however, were the older African Americans that were in attendance. Each and every one I saw walked out of the stadium with expressions of pure joy, as if they had witnessed something they never thought would happen in their lifetime.
My wife and I will have children one day, and they’ll grow up in an America where it won’t be that big of a deal for a woman or an African American to run for President. But one day, they’ll come home from school and ask me if I remember when Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination. I’m excited that I’ll get to say “Do I remember!?!?! Kids, I was there!”