TV, the DNC and Barack Obama

We don't watch much TV these days. The TV is really only there so we can watch DVDs and videos. But with all the hubbub of the convention going on practically in our own backyard (and the constant reminders from the traffic displays warning about the closed roads and impending traffic, which thankfully never materialized), I figured I had to see what the Democratic party had to say.

And what I heard gave me hope; or rather, it gave my hope new life, new energy. They may have been preaching to the choir, but it was good all the same, and what I needed to hear. For the last few months, I've basically tried to reduce my brain allocation for politics because it was just getting me too depressed. But I have been reminded that there are people out there who are standing up for the things I believe in.

Monday's headliners were all great: Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton. Omigod, Bill Clinton. I don't remember him hearnig him speak when he was in office (just the soundbites in the news during the F'ing Lewinsky BS), but his speech was just incredible.

And then I heard Barack Obama.

I've been hearing about Barack Obama here and there. Ok, pretty much everywhere. They were really talking him up at all the pre-game stuff, he was in the news, on NPR, and all over the web. An Illinois State Senator that's running for the U.S. Senate. A rising star. A rock star. Sorry? A what?

Ok, so I just saw his keynote address at the DNC, and HOLY CRAP, he's a freakin' rock star! If you don't believe me, check out dKos, Amy Sullivan (guest writing at Washington Monthly) or Andrew Sullivan (a Republican) for starters. Or just see for yourself. (Or listen here)

"Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America—there’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the UNITED STATES of America."

Yeah, man. You go.

Check it.