I'm checking in from Denver...
I'm hanging with georgia 10 and Kos....
Update: `Since McCain votes with Bush 90 percent of the time, Obama won't take only a ten percent chance at change....
UPDATE: (Nicole) Jesse Wendel from Group News Blog is liveblogging the event for John, who didn't feel well enough to make it to the stadium. Here's his first entry:`
People are afraid of change.
Al Gore stands center stage in Invesco Field. He tells us why this election has remained close is because of the fear of change:
"There is no better example than the climate crisis. As I have said for many years throughout this land, we're borrowing money from China to restore America's greatness; fight for smarter government that trusts the market, but protects us against its excesses; enact policies that are pro-education and pro-family, establish a foreign policy that is smart as well as strong; provide health care for all and solutions for the climate crisis."
In sculpted oratory, Al Gore calls forth a message of change, change, change for the future of our country, change for the future of our world:
"A century and a half ago, when America faced our greatest trial, the end of one era gave way to the birth of another. The candidate who emerged victorious in that election is now regarded by most historians as our greatest president. Before he entered the White House, Abraham Lincoln's experience in elective office consisted of eight years in his state legislature in Springfield, Illinois, and one term in Congress - during which he showed the courage and wisdom to oppose the invasion of another country that was popular when it started but later condemned by history."
From the 50 yard line, high up in the Press Box, in the Crooks and Liars seat, AL GORE ROCKED THE HOUSE.
UPDATE#2
American after weary American comes to the podium.
Standing alone in the eyes of the world, Americans briefly tell their story:
* Foreclosure,
* disabled,
* health-care benefits lost.
This is the America George Bush has left us.
These Americans coming up to the podium one after another don't ask for our pity. They ask us to envision America as it was, America as it could be.
These Americans call for change, for a future in which the United States stands for a country united in service of all people, in service of common ideals, with a social contract which works.
The crowd at Invesco is visibly moved by their call to action. I am also.
UPDATE #3
The flash bulbs are blinding, even here in the Press Box at the 50 yard line, high above Invesco Field.
People walked miles to get here today. Across railroad tracks and bridges, up roads and over rivers. It was SO hot. Just to show up to be here tonight for this historic moment, people had to PUSH.
Why did they do it?
Because there is something worth PUSHING for.
Barack Obama is speaking:
"...shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.
"It is that promise that has always set this country apart - that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.
"That's why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women - students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors -- found the courage to keep it alive."
*****
"These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.
"America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this."
In a word, Barack Obama, at the podium, looks and sounds, Presidential.
More to follow...
UPDATE #4 --Thanks to Jesse for his contribution!
Obama takes the high road.
Repeatedly.
What strikes me most powerfully about Senator Barack Obama, an African American and ain't that grand, is he INSISTS on including everyone. It is not his specific programs and promises -- which are impressive, or his pedigree -- which is unprecedented. It is that Barack Obama, no matter how he is attacked, is clear this moment is a GENERATIONAL CHANGE.
And in a GENERATIONAL CHANGE, well, the old moves aside, and the new assumes its place in the halls of power. We saw it in the Greatest Generation, when young people stepped up and marched off to war and saved the world from a global threat. We saw it again when the Boomers came of age and challenged the spiritual sense of the world, bringing forth a new way of being in the world, challenging authority as it was known, and along with that challenge came civil rights, feminisim, music, and a spiritual revolution.
Now, another entire generation later, we are having a political revolution, taking back our beloved country from zealots and fanatics. Barack Obama holds the crowd at Invesco in the palm of his hand, like a preacher, like a new leader, the man who promises he will lead the new generation (as well as the old) to the promised land.
It's time for a change.
*smiles*
Final note: The crowd is on their feet yelling, confetti fills the air. On the podium are Michele, Barack, the kids having fun, Joe and Jill. Fireworks are going off.
Gods, this is sweet. Oh... look! More fireworks, all around the edge of the field. The BEST.
From Invesco Field, LIVE. Goodnight.
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Treat this as the Convention Open Thread
