The fireworks boom, the confetti cannons blast, the roar of the crowd is deafening... John McCain sets down his scotch, turns off the TV and mutters an expletive...

The DNC Convention is over. As this is written the crowd is filing out and the cleanup crew is filing in... As a piece of stagecraft this night was scripted and blocked perfectly. It is as though everyone in Hollywood got tired of pouring their combined monies down a rathole with the last two Presidential campaigns and took the convention over from the politicians to tell a gripping and compelling story. You have to think, can a political convention get an Emmy?

The set itself was not as overdone as was talked about. From camera angle it looked like that section outside of the White House where Jed Bartlett would sneak a cigarette and talk with Leo. From the Clinton playbook of getting the original artist to sing the campaign song, Stevie Wonder did a live version of "Signed, Sealed Delivered". Then came the parade of ordinary people and generals - more of the last 3 days.

The lead-in to Obama was continued lovefest, but they had to search harder for speakers with spark. The newest political celebrity would be Barney Smith - a displaced worker from Marion, Indiana - who delivered the best poke at Bush saying that he needed a President who "cared more about Barney Smith and less about Smith-Barney". You would have to think there's a congressional seat in his future. Al Gore came in person, instead of sending his animatronic double (oh, that's not a robot - it's really him? Where was tonight's Al Gore in 2000?). Joe Biden did a quick warm-up, and Dick Durban introduced the nominee.

And Obama did what Obama does - took a Clinton speech and amped it up. Obama can do with a teleprompter what Jimi Hendrix could do with a guitar. He not only felt your pain (as Clinton did), but called you to serve (as Kennedy did), to reach your dreams in a country where anything is possible (as Reagan did). When he paused for applause, the image of him in the jumboscreen could easily be the picture that they use for the new ten dollar bill. If you did not see it, it is worth viewing and is available unedited at demconvention.com and edited at cnn.com.

The speech was heavy on imagery and lofty ideals, some decent hits directed at John McCain, a broad policy outline - but for details, you have to hit the Obama website or hope they are actually said by the candidate during the course of the rest of the campaign. So be it - the Democratic Convention accomplished  what it set out to do - get unity for the party, and entertain the public.

John McCain and the Republicans have a high mark to meet next week in St. Paul. If the Democrats learned anything at all from losing to the W - it was to bring the fight to your opponent so you don't have to fight them at home. This closes out the DNC log. Time to get off of the donkey and saddle up the elephant. Full coverage of the RNC Convention starts September 1. 

Til Then-
RLB