Obama accepts the Democratic nomination

Thu, August 28, 2008 - 9:02 PM

As soon as the video ended, Obama strides from the center door to the podium. He was the only speaker of the day to use that entrance. All the others came from the sides. The crowd explodes in applause, cheers, foot stomping, flagwaving and camera flashes.

At 8:14 p.m. MDT, he accepts the Democratic presidential nomination. And he begins to remind the Democrats what it was that appealed to them four years ago and what brought him to this place.

He uses himself and his personal story as emblematic of the American dream, he quickly goes on the offensive against the Bush years, with John McCain as the heir to the failures. He has the crowd with him as he paints a feel-good vision of America as "a better country than these last years have shown."

Suddenly it's clear why the other speakers this week haven't thrown red meat at the crowd. Obama serves up his brand with eloquence and humor. He confronts the argument that McCain uses that Obama lacks the judgment to be president, noting that McCain has voted with President Bush 90 percent of the time.

"What does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time? I don't know about you but I'm not willing to take a 10 percent chance on change," he says..

He uses a "damning with faint praise: approach, saying that it's not that McCain doesn't care what's going on in Americans' lives. "I just thihnk he doesn't know."

He says again that it's not that McCain doesn't care -- it's that he doesn't get it.

-- Marsha Mercer