(click the picture above for
the high definition
video - but also click
YouTube
for me!)
11:22 PM,
Thursday, August 28th, 2008:
I'm not
embarrassed to say that ever since Obama got the
nomination I have been less than impressed. I expected
the rush to the middle, been down this road several
times. I expected him to go through some growing pains
as he transitioned from the primaries to the general
campaign... but I was really put off with the lack of
passion. I was furious he let McCain define him and
there were some serious political blunders that just
surprised me after such a great primary.
I watched the first 3 days of the convention and
even saw Hill & Bill's great speeches as actually
hurting Obama because it gave people pause about their
choice. That was where I was when I took a jog this
morning.
I
started off, then looked down and noticed
the LA Times with a headline "It's
unanimous and historic" about the first
african-american being nominated. I went
10 more feet and yelled "DAMNIT", and
turned around to get the camera. I knew
this was one of those moments, and I was
in no mood to make a video - but I just
had to.
Now
what hit me was just the "old school" feel
of it all. It was just one of those days
during history that you never catch. It's
a time-stamp that says everything about
the environment in an instant. In 20 years
when you say 2008, it will have resonance
like 1968 does now, guaranteed. And I
stumbled upon it simply because I was
bored shitless of my exercise
bike.
The effect was
kinda transformative. In that simple 20 minute jog,
even holding a camera, I just started to remember
January. The initial feeling I had then. The more
newspapers I hit, the more it occured to me. I started
to get excited again. I mean, this is one of those
moments that even as a sports fan you have to love.
Hill & Bill literally raised the bar and said:
"Alright, if you can top that - the torch is yours".
So I was rooting for something big. And as you can see
there were a few other things swirling in my brain,
but I decided to leave out my original idea of a
"hearing my thoughts" voice over as imagining it
was a lot more fun. You'll have a bit more insight to
what I was thinking in the next entry...
All day I was
kinda buzzin'. Seriously - the first time I've been
excited in nearly 3 months about anything political. I
had to know, would he meet the challenge. I was
talking with Justin (biggest political junkie friend)
and we kinda agreed that he was screwed. No matter
what - he would piss off some faction of the party. If
he went the rhetorical route, he would piss off those
like me who wanted him to attack... and then all those
yelling for specifics - he had an impossible task. And
on the 45th anniversary of "I have a dream"? It was
just too much. I was certain he would excel in one
area, but be a bit weak in others...
...and I
upheld my moniker of "Worst. Pundit. Ever."
because - wow I was wrong. I mean,
fucking, wow. Are you kiddin me? No one can
say he didn't nail that. No one. The worst
they can do is overexagerrate his strength,
like they've done with his popularity, and
make fun. And even that falls flat for the
first time because it wasn't the speech that
was that great. I actually read a great
deal of it before and it wasn't that
extraordinary to me...
...but he
delivered that shit like a man on a mission. Passion.
Finally PASSION. Anger. Common fucking sense. A sense
of direction. And direction! How direct was he!? So
forceful, so assured. So absolutely dead-on. He
brought everything together from every speech he ever
gave and didn't back down at all. I'm tellin' you the
line about the drowning city and the government
sitting on their hands - YES. YES. Attack already.
Good freaking LORD could you have anymore ammunition?
And that's really
why so many people have been letdown this summer.
Where has this been? Since his Race speech in March
there's been nothing like this. I mean, give me
one of these a week the rest of the campaign please.
Hell - I'll just play this every week. And watching it
in high-def on a 10 foot screen... my LORD. Just
breathtaking. It looked incredible. Thank GOD for the
ability to be able to DVR high def without loss. Just
awesome.
It was
just an extraordinary night for me and I'm
sure many of you. After a couple months of
really being letdown I was knocked out as I
absolutely feel I watched our next first
family take the stage. It is still a long
road, but if he keeps up these attacks and
doesn't back down... I have to believe common
sense will prevail.
And seriously,
Barry, can you please keep it in your pants. I
mean please. Your future is setup so perfect
man. If you keep your focus you will change the world.
To watch you come this far and lose it for something
stupid is unimaginable. As I said long ago if a black
man named Iraq Hussein Osama can become president in a
post 9/11 America, less than 10 years after to boot,
it will restore my faith in this country like nothing
ever has.
I still can't even
believe it's possible.
Adam
PS - On McCain's
VP pick... Hutchinson would be brilliant
politically, Romney would be smart economically and
Pawlenty would really make me happy. :)
