Democrats In Denver: The History Maker

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, born to an African father and a Kansas mother, accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president tonight before 84,000 of his closest supporters at Invesco Field in Denver. It is the first time that someone other than a white male has earned such an honor.

The speech that followed were the familiar themes of creating change and restoring hope to an electorate beaten down by the policies and events of the last eight years. Then Obama started to kick butt, outlining point for point where Republican challenger John McCain wasn't all that different from President Bush, and what he would do if he were in the White House.

But when Obama told the delegates that "eight is enough", Charles Gibson of ABC News made the point that Bush said much the same thing at the 2000 Republican Convention after eight years of Democratic rule.

No matter. The sellout audience lapped it all up in much the same way as in 1960 when John Kennedy accepted the Democratic nomination at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Prior to the festivities, Wednesday was a day for setting the table. Senator Hillary Clinton (clearly auditioning for 2012 with all the face time she's getting), with her New York delegation alongside, did the honors in asking that Obama be nominated by acclamation. Emotion took over the Pepsi Center as delegates were cheering, waving banners and crying . . . all for the benefit of the few folks who still watch the network evening news. The pharmaceutical companies whose commercials were pre-empted must have been pissed.

Former President Bill Clinton spoke while the networks were running Supernanny and America's Got Talent. The man who was once dubbed the first "black" president swallowed his bitterness over his wife's primary defeat to give his emphatic endorsement to Obama, while reminding folks that he was younger and even less experienced than the nominee when he was elected. With the exception of Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky, Clinton (and the country) turned out all right.

Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware accepted his vice-presidential nomination. He reined in his ability to run off at the mouth long enough to praise his new running mate, and to diss McCain for being less of a leader than a good soldier.

That's all well and good. But there were a few issues the Democrats chose to keep buried in the Rocky Mountains during the convention: The conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Same-sex marriages. Protecting the nation's privacy. Vice President Dick Cheney. Politicizing branches of government. Why they wasted their Congressional majority acquiescing to President Bush, and generally doing little else but bicker with the Republicans. Are we leaving anything out?

But the night belonged to Barack Obama. Now all he has to do is to convince the voters that he is indeed one of them, that he really means what he says about changing the direction of the country and its standing in the world, and is ready to lead on day one. It won't be easy.

On this day in 1963, an African-American man of the cloth stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and talked about a dream he had. It was about a world where people were judged by their character instead of the color of their skin. Forty-five years later, that man's dream is one step closer to coming true. But we have a long way to go.