I was so thoroughly impressed by this man's speech. The whole content was focused upon a America as a whole, not sliced into partisan pieces. I also found his presentation skills to be the most above par that I have seen in many many years. Clinton also had a great speech this convention, but I think Obama's shined above even Clinton's well honed presentation. His content paired with his presentation together was just absolutely astounding. He could talk about cabbage and be able to pull people in (including jaded pseudo-intellectuals such as I.) And sadly, that is probably the only way a black man will be able to be voted into office; by being overly extraordinary. I could easily see, and due to similarly held values quite appreciate, a Presidential run from Barack Obama in 2012.

I of course should have specified, as I obviously meant, "Presidential or Vice Presidential office".

I was mesmerized. I was on the treadmill at the gym, while he was speaking and he made me forget how miserable I was. He made me feel hopeful. He made me genuinely glad to be a Democrat. Feelings I haven't had for a while. I can't wait for him to get some training as a leader of the people, so that in 2012, he can lead the U.S. I now feel comfortable that we have some Democratic leaders of substance in the wings--I had begun to think they were a dying breed.

And no...it wasn't runner's high. It's been several days, and I'm still smiling.

I realize this is probably kind of late but,

I was excited, probably too excited, to see the Oregon delegation cast it's votes. I was looking forward to hearing what superlatives would be used to describe "The Great State of Oregon". I have to say I particularly enjoyed "America's Eden"

What came after that was kind of strange though, Darlene Hooley went on to list some of the progressive legislation that makes Oregon such a great place, The Bottle Bill, the Beach Bill etc. Those are definitely things to be proud of, but it's odd to hear them lauded at the DNC convention since they were all brought upon by a REPUBLICAN! hehe I think every bill she mentioned was the work of Tom McCall who, despite being pretty progressive and arguably our best governor ever, was at no point in his career a Democrat. I think he may have contemplated switching parties though.

Anyway, I just thought that was kind of weird and amusing.

Re: Obama

My roommate is from illinois and a regular reader of Kos etc so for many months prior to the convention I was hearing praise for Obama. I watched the speech and I thought it was decent, one of the better ones of the even but I wouldn't call it the best.

I do think he'd make a fine candidate for president once Kerry's eight years are up but I just wasn't as blown away by his rhetoric as everyone else was. Just what was it that was so damn amazing to everyone?

I actually thought his delivery was a little stiff.

Didn't we go through all this with Harold Ford Jr. last convention?

That's really interesting Fullerton. Just why did I think Obama's speech was incredible? Well, first off this is the first time I've seen a convention (yeah, yeah, I know, I know.) What I usually am good at spotting is music and acting trends and talent (formerly in the music industry professionally.)

So what I noticed about Obama was his impecible timing; I mean his inflections and dynamics (forte to mezzo piano and back again) were right on the money every time. And also I noticed his ability to work with his audience- he knows when to plow ahead and when to wait back for effect, when to slow it down to a build and when to sense when the audience was ready to absolutely charged into the huge build.

Basically skills I have seen in musicians and dj's over the years. And he showed in that speech some of the best presentation skills I had seen in a long time.

Kari...you just wrote that to keep the discussion going! Bush will have to debate without Cheney whispering in his ear. Bush has NO record to defend so when Kerry gets the chance to attack his record he will score points. I expect a Kerry win.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush told a roomful of top Pentagon brass on Thursday that his administration would never stop looking for ways to harm the United States. The latest installment of misspeak from a president long known for his malapropisms came during a signing ceremony for a new $417 billion defense appropriations bill that includes $25 billion in emergency funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we," Bush said.

Bush: the great debater!