I couldn't watch the speech from the press box. It was a room with glass separating us from the stadium's frenzied noise and dozens of other reporters, and the very core of both speech and the setting seemed to be about not sitting at a remove. I went down to the floor, amidst the dancing delegates and crush of photographers and sat somewhere near the stage.

So what was it like? It's a bit tricky to write about the moment when the first black presidential nominee in the 232-year history of the American Republic accepts the nomination. What, really can you say that doesn't pitch into cant? (four days of listening to convention speeches gives you a deathly allergy to cant)

But the moment he walked out to accept the nomination, when the crowd swelled and the people next to me began to cheer and some teared, this thing called History felt real and living and somehow inhabiting the stadium and the podium and Obama himself.

Obama's rhetorical genius is his ability to sink a well into the troubled history of this strange flawed beautiful republic, and call forth a geyser of optimism in the American Project. It's something that no one else can do, and once again, at a moment of maximum pressure, he delivered.

I want to collect my thoughts about the speech and the politics of it (a few lines of which I thought were terrible, a significant section of which I thought was boilerplate).

I need a bit of distance from the whole enormity to write something sensible.

But I can safely say Ill go to my grave remembering the air and light and sound of that stadium tonight. And feeling amidst the flags and black and white and Asians and Latino people around me a deep, almost physical sense of what the American promise is.

Comments (15)

1. Well, Chris Hayes, you've written a pretty decent first impression here.

   "Sinking a well into the troubled history of this strange flawed beautiful republic" is a succinct way to put it.

   Nice.

   From home through the tv screen I thought it was an effective speech. Not his best, but rock solid overall.

   The central impression in my mind was that Obama dignified himself and the American people generally while making the standard Republican attacks appear small minded and tiny by comparison.

   Dignity is his strong suit, and I suspect that if enough American voters are exposed to its beam he should win fairly handily when all is said and done in November.

   Posted by b_kool_66 at 08/29/2008 @ 01:36am

2. "It's something that no one else can do, and once again, at a moment of maximum pressure, he delivered."

   posted by Christopher Hayes on 08/29/2008 @ 01:16am

   He is the real deal.

   He could easily go all the way.

   Two terms.

   Posted by Benchrest at 08/29/2008 @ 01:39am

3. I have to say. To know what my parents and grandparents went through to just gain rights in this country. It is a beautiful thing to see a minority in this country stand before a packed stadium and accept the nomination for President of the United States. Whatever your problems are with him, what ever you thought about his speech, there is something about seeing a minority stand on stage and say I accept your nomination for the Presidency. It is something that Americans have grappled with for much of our comparatively short history. Finally America has delivered like only it can. Good job America. Whether this ha been Hillary or Obama I feel the same way. America has finally shown that in this country your goals can be as high as you want them to be.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/29/2008 @ 01:45am

4. "America has finally shown that in this country your goals can be as high as you want them to be."

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/29/2008 @ 01:45am

   Speaking of which, that could be you someday you know.

   Posted by Benchrest at 08/29/2008 @ 01:53am

5. Speaking of which, that could be you someday you know. Posted by Benchrest at 08/29/2008 @ 01:53am

   I'm not a politician but it's a nice thought to no longer think that the day will never come when a black person can actually run for President.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/29/2008 @ 02:08am

6. Obama rose so high it will be impossible for the GOP to touch his hem.

   Which won't of course stop the GOP, its owners & its media from continuing to attack his person, as it's impossible for the GOP to run on its record.

   What Obama accomplished last night, inter al., was to put a greater share of the electorate beyond the reach of the GOP southern strategy of bigotry & its ideology of greed.

   Bravissimo, Barack, bravissimo.

   You & the Dems deserve to win, the GOP has earned a crushing defeat.

   Posted by sloper at 08/29/2008 @ 05:05am

7. I expect the Repub convention to be a ...dud.....in comparison annd star power.---Posted by JOMAMMA at 08/29/2008 @ 08:22am

   They usually are. GOP Conventions rarely exciting...after all, "excitement" and "conservative" hardly synonymous.

   What WILL be interesting is how McCain handles Obama's line about his "judgement" and how good is it if "you think George W. Bush was right over 90% of the time"?

   Does he defend voting with Bush?...to an America that by 70% don't like the job Bush did?

   Does he DISTANCE himself from Bush?...right before going into a Convention that 70% DO like the job Bush did?!?!??

   Posted by Maskdelta at 08/29/2008 @ 08:54am

8. "The Senator" from Illinois began to erase the intellectual rot of the U.S. Presidency. I watched the entire convention on Thursday. I discovered, half way through the Obama speech, that I had stopped noticing that "The Senator" was black. As a matter of fact "The Senator"himself reminded me that he didn't fit the typical mold.

   Posted by lachatte at 08/29/2008 @ 09:10am

9. Barack Obama has again delivered to us eager supporters through his come to be expected outstanding oratory a truly magnificant acceptance speech which represented the culmination of what resembled Muhammed Ali's prototype brilliant "Rope-a-dope" strategy, where he allowed his dumb/brute challenger to tire himself out over the course of the fight while studying his tactics as he masterfully saves his strength and then by surprise ambush TKO's him in the 9th round to remain the heavy weight champion of the world, and of the people. This brilliant man, who earned every distinguished honor he ever received, ran the best organized campaign, and has done absolutely everything right while idiots delight in calling him a celebrity and an empty suit.

   Posted by WeldonRobeson at 08/29/2008 @ 09:43am

10. Too bad no on mentions the gorilla in the room: What's the use of voting if our electronic voting machines haven't been fixed with verifieable paper trails? We have had eight long years to do so. The essence of a democracy is the idea that the People's voices are heard when we vote, and no one has convinced us that they will be. We may as well be in Zimbabwe.

    Posted by mystic at 08/29/2008 @ 09:49am

11. but I would like to see the two of them on a small stage , just the 2 of them...the result might not be so glamorous...for Obama. Posted by JOMAMMA at 08/29/2008 @ 08:22am

    Good analysis of things and I completely concur with this line. I can't wait to see them debate. Not because I think Obama is going to stomp McCain either I just want to see these two drastically different candidates stand on stage and debate policy. It's what America is about. It's what makes this country great.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/29/2008 @ 09:51am

12. Posted by JOMAMMA at 08/29/2008 @ 09:05am

    I didn't say "70% HATE Bush"...I said "70% don't like the job Bush did"

    care to dispute that with polling?

    McCain now in a pickle. Obama has called him out....He DID vote "90%+ with Bush"....does he stand by that, or not?

    If he does...he loses the majority who don't support Bush. If he doesn't, he loses the majority of the people at HIS Convention next week.

    Posted by Maskdelta at 08/29/2008 @ 09:57am

13. RE: "I need a bit of distance from the whole enormity to write something sensible.

    Unless I'm mistaken, "enormity" is not the correct word you want to use in this sentence:

    enormity - (1)The state of being outrageous or extremely wicked. (2)A great or flagrant instance of wickedness or depravity...

    Posted by chsplyr at 08/29/2008 @ 6:56pm

14. 3. greatness of size, scope, extent, or influence; immensity: The enormity of such an act of generosity is staggering.

    Posted by ndavis at 08/29/2008 @ 7:54pm

15. Posted by ndavis at 08/29/2008 @ 7:54pm and posted by Christopher Hayes on 08/29/2008 @ 01:16am

    Usage Note: Enormity is frequently used to refer simply to the property of being great in size or extent, but many would prefer that enormousness (or a synonym such as immensity) be used for this general sense and that enormity be limited to situations that demand a negative moral judgment, as in Not until the war ended and journalists were able to enter Cambodia did the world really become aware of the enormity of Pol Pot's oppression. Fifty-nine percent of the Usage Panel rejects the use of enormity as a synonym for immensity in the sentence At that point the engineers sat down to design an entirely new viaduct, apparently undaunted by the enormity of their task. This distinction between enormity and enormousness has not always existed historically, but nowadays many observe it. Writers who ignore the distinction, as in the enormity of the President's election victory or the enormity of her inheritance, may find that their words have cast unintended aspersions or evoked unexpected laughter.

    (taken from online source dictionary.com)

    Posted by chsplyr at 08/30/2008 @ 1:01pm