.jpg)
Canadians can be forgiven if for the past eight years we have held our maple leafs even tighter our chest while our American neighbours got embroiled in an unpopular war, endured the national shame of Hurricane Katrina, and suffered a rapid economic downturn. However, as the 2008 US election cycle moves into its final phase, Barack Obama’s historic night in Denver, watched by Canadians from coast to coast, might have left more than a few of us rather envious and asking: When was the last time we were as passionate about our politics?
Read Holly Jean Buck on Obama’s big speech at our blogs page.
DENVER, CO—Forty-five years to the day when Dr. Martin Luther King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC to famously declare “I have a dream,” Barack Obama, the democratic senator from Illinois, stepped into history and that promise by accepting his party’s nomination to become the first African-American nominee of any party for president of the United States.Nothing in the way Barack Obama has waged his historic candidacy has spoken to politics as usual and in staging his nomination in front of a mile-high crowd of more than 84,000 at Invesco Field — the only other candidate to accept his party’s nomination on such a scale was John. F. Kennedy in 1960 — Mr. Obama succeeded in pulling off one of the greatest feats of political pageantry in American history.
With lines stretching for miles around the stadium, the thousands who waited patiently in the Denver heat were moved to tears and a pin-drop silence, amid a sea of American flags and signs calling for ‘change’, as a video biography of the young senator’s life played on giant screens that backed high onto the Denver night sky.
As diverse as they were vast, the crowd made up of blacks, whites, Hispanics, college kids, senators, celebrities, and blue collar American families from every corner of the union — all sitting side by side — prompted many observers to wonder whether this moment, was in fact was what Dr. King’s dream, boldly declared on another warm August evening, might have looked like.
Comments (4 comments)
Anonymous: Joe Biden is his VP. Seems exactly like politics as usual to me. Perhaps a better indication would be McCains gutsy appointment of Sarah Pailin. September 02, 2008 10:21 EST
Anonymous: What a boring, trite little story. Hope you are not fronting too much money for this cattle fodder.
Actually folks, the show was totally underwhelming. Any event planner would tell you that you can have a much better effect, especially for national television by reducing the space and filling the scene. What they had was a stage in a stadium, which diminished the impact of that stage, when Obama sauntered in few were even aware that HE had arrived for the crowning, he gave a lackluster speech that would have even made Stephanne D sound eloquent, then they had a fireworks display that was no better than a few hand sparklers and a miscue when the paper confetti failed to fire up at the same time. The effect, a phizzle. If you are going to use a stadium, you have to put on a grand show—aka Chinese version of the Olympic ceremonies. If I may be prosasic, the Democratic affair was much like fooling around in the back seat of the car only to have messed your pants to show for all your effort—and although it doesn't matter I lean towards the Democrats philosophically. carl September 03, 2008 14:31 EST
Anonymous: brilliant photos. thanks for giving us an insider's look at a historic moment. keep them coming!
September 04, 2008 17:12 EST
Sarah L: Fantastic photos! Having missed the live coverage while travelling it's great to be able to pick up the atmosphere and momentous sense of occasion in these pictures. November 06, 2008 02:27 EST