Rather than making a plea for unity, Obama goes after McCain in predictable ('It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.') and somewhat unpredictable ways. ('John McCain likes to say he'll follow bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.)

We stop to talk with Savannah Guthrie, an NBC correspondent who is hoping for an interview with civil rights pioneer John Lewis. Lewis is the last living speaker at the March on Washington and today is the 45^th anniversary of the march.

Tonight is part rally, part rock concert, part grassroots organizing event. Colorado state director Ray Rivera encourages supporters in the stadium to text the DNC. Before Luke interviews her, Alabama delegate Lakeisha Chestnut texts furiously and then faces the broadcast to try and find her message in the ribbon on screen. Lakeisha is a single mother of three from Birmingham who has spent ten years of her life working in campaigns, is getting her college degree and plans to go to law school.

We park ourselves in back of the Massachusetts delegation for a good view of the speech and the staging. According to The New York Times, the Obama campaign's staging expert studied photographs of Kennedy's 1960 outdoor acceptance speech at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for inspiration. Directly across from us at the top of the stadium, snipers are tiny next to a bucking Denver Bronco.

A tribute video narrates what it calls 'Obama's search for self.' We see Obama shot from the back, walking down an empty hallway. "By discovering his own story," the narrator says, "he would come to know what was remarkable about his country."

(story continues beneath video of Obama's speech)

Obama and his family are sitting with supporters from swing states and the language of the night has been economic populism. "In Washington," Obama says, "they call this the 'ownership society' but what it really means is: 'you're on your own.'

Rather than making a plea for unity, Obama goes after McCain in predictable ('It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.') and somewhat unpredictable ways. ('John McCain likes to say he'll follow bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.)

Mostly, though, the night is about event and emotion. For Obama, the narrator of his video says, "It was always about trying to move people." And as he finishes speaking, fireworks boom, streamers fall in ribbons on the stage and we are covered in outdoor confetti. The crowd yells furiously, waving small flags and blue 'Change' signs. To my right, Daily Show correspondent John Oliver jumps up and down wildly for the cameras.

More on the speech to come...

POSTED ON HOTCHALK.COM 

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