Denver Convention – Day Four (Thursday)

Oh, what a night! Wow! That was fun. We knew that we were going to have an interesting evening as we boarded the delegate buses outside of the Sheraton headed for Invesco Field. There was that special buzz in the air that we were participating in an historic occasion. All the preliminaries were finished and tonight was the culmination of a week of conversation, debate, protests, and parties. I think that I would have had that feeling regardless of the candidate, but this night was even more historic.

We had slowly been given the story of this young man and his family and were interested in how we would feel when we had a chance to see him up close and personal. Fortunately, I was able to sit on the floor level with Pat and a group of her women friends who all had come to Denver with mixed emotions since they had all worked their hearts out for Hillary. We had all been through an amazing transition during the week, but the Obama and Hillary sides were still being overly polite to each other because no one really knew how they were going to feel at the end of the evening.

The Hillary delegates I was with had cast their votes on Wednesday and were surprised when the California delegation passed at their turn. Hillary had met with all of her delegates and told them to vote their consciences. As a result, many delegates felt that she had signaled that they vote for Obama and the totals were very different than the actual votes. As you know when the vote came to the New York delegation, Hillary took the microphone and declared all of her votes for Obama and requested that he be nominated by unanimous acclimation. The hall went wild and it was a done deal. We Hillary people now had to determine what our individual reactions would be.

The stadium energy was contagious and we rocked to Stevie Wonder. Al Gore came in and clearly called on us to take responsibility for the planet and global warming. Bill Richardson left us flat, but Biden’s introduction of a series of “average Joe and Joan” Americans who had been overlooked by the Bush government electrified the crowd. And then this young man we came to hear took the stage and gave the best speech of his life. Apparently, many pundits called it the best convention speech since John Kennedy. I’m sure most of you have seen it by now, but I must share that the emotion in that stadium was very poignant. Many people had tears running down their cheeks when Obama listed the components of the American Dream his grandparents had taught him. Turns out that his grandfather was the image of many of our Dads – and that was his point. The reality is that the country he described is one that we all believe in and would love to see. The crowd roared when he said that the election wasn’t about him, but was about us and it leaped to its feet when he called on all fathers to put their families first.

I know that the networks perversely insist on showing the 200-300 odd humans who wear crazy hats and clothes, but in general this crowd was dressed in professional attire and showed amazing gentility in their treatment of each other. Slowly, the Hillary people recognized that the future Obama presented was the one that we had protested and marched for during the sixties. It was our dream that he was sharing rather than the opposite. It was the post-racial, ethnic and gender divide that we had fought for all of our lives that he was attempting to bridge. Could we dare to hope, as Bill Clinton said to us, that this young man with his incredibly diverse global background could possibly be uniquely positioned to help the human race finally get past our differences and learn to work together to create a better world?

The list of challenges he detailed were so daunting that only a young person could imagine achieving all of them. When I looked around the stadium at all of those young, inspired faces, I was reminded of my own youthful idealism when I touched John Kennedy’s hand at the Nassau Coliseum and signed up to join the Peace Corps at fourteen. While I was getting tired of standing up and down every other minute, the twenty and thirty year olds around me were becoming more energized and focused. It was clear that they were ready to bring the American Dream back and all they needed was a leader. By the end of his speech, I was left with the feeling that if this young man and the 80,000 people in the stadium multiplied by millions truly decided to change this country back into a place where government helps people rather than hurts them and where we see our success in the success of others, I surely was going to support them.

My husband and I marched in the 60’s for an end to racism and a war that put us on the wrong side. In the 70’s I became a feminist in New York City to fight for equality for myself and our daughters and future granddaughters. We moved to California in the 80’s to continue to be a part of the Dream that Americans would use our genius to "slip the boundaries of Earth" and explore the Cosmos and that we, in my field, could teach leaders that humans could find humane ways to manage the workplace and allow people to achieve the highly motivated environment by being treated with dignity and respect. I have devoted my life to teaching and sharing the communication skills that are absolutely critical for leaders to learn if we are to avoid the real possibility of destroying our planet by making war instead of love. So, I have a great deal invested in the platform Obama details and I wish him well.

The factor that surprised me last night was not the inspiration, but the anger. The crowd really leapt to its feet when Obama shouted “Enough”! And when he declared that we are not red and not blue, but all red, white and blue – all Americans - and that no one should ever question the patriotism of Democrats. But what rang home to those around me was his repudiation of the "ownership society" in which government and big business declare "you are on your own". If there is anything that should scare John McCain, it is the sense of anger this audience feels about this betrayal of their E Pluribus Unum America.

As I sit writing this in the Denver airport at 8 PM after having been unable to get United Airlines to load my bag this morning causing me to miss my 11:20 AM flight, it occurs to me that I share this anger as well. I have been treated like the enemy of the airline instead of a passenger who needs assistance. I stopped flying United several years ago because I could never find anyone who would take responsibility for anything that happened. An inexpensive fare lured me back and now I remember why I stopped flying them, after a supervisor told me that the delegates should have known to be at the airport at least four hours in advance. What Obama is tapping is the fury of the public at their government and corporate America for making us feel like marks who should be relieved of our money rather than respected citizens and patrons. This may be his ace.

And now we have Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as the VP candidate on the Republican ticket. She is describing herself as just a “hockey mom” on the CNN airport monitor. Karl Rove certainly stole the news cycle and it is a risky chess move. I must say that McCain looks a lot perkier standing with his arm around her. It appears that this election will stay very interesting after all. The buzz at the airport is all about whether the Hillary supporters will go to her. She is not pro-choice, but with the morning after pill abortion is becoming an ancient technology. A number of wealthy white women in the Democratic Party remain so angry that Hillary is not on the ticket that they are wondering whether this is their party. I honestly am not sure how they will react.

We are certainly engaged in a fascinating political season, are we not?