Tonight all eyes were on Denver, to one of the most amazing specticals we have seen in the political history of this nation. An estimated 85000 people crowded into a football stadium to hear Barack Hussein Obama accept the nomination of the Democrat party for President of the United States of America. While not a supporter, I watched along with my wife and listened carefully to every word. Although not all the talking heads agreed afterwards, I thought it was an excellent speech, those who are for Obama will stick with him, those on the fence will be watching John McCain closely to see if he can measure up. Obama promised to end our addiction to foreign oil within 10 years, continue to support biofuels(McCain is against subsidies for biofuels), promised universal affordable healthcare, and to bring our troops home. The speech Obama gave was down to earth and convincing. I have heard much of this before over the years from other politicians I am sure meant well, but could not or would not deliver. Obama did mention farmers and farms two different times in his speech, a far cry from 10-15 years ago when every candidate would elaborate on what their farm policy would be, it shows just how many fewer farmers there are today that no candidate believes they need to address us directly.
Whether you agree with Obama or not, he is an impressive man. He is a clear speaker with a voice that a statesman should have. He has indeed come from humble roots and seems a devoted husband and father. His mother died of cancer, she was white and born in Kansas. Obamas Kansas grandparents had a huge role in raising him, he acknowledged that again tonight. Perhaps the best way to describe Obama's political prowess is that after I hear him speak I always have to remind myself why voting for him would be bad....I am very much a conservative and he is so far left it is sad, but he appeals to all people, at least most people.
For the rest of the night and the next few days the various news people on all our networks(even BBC America covered the speech) will try to disect what Obama said, and whether he reached Americans or not. He reached me, and impressed me, but John McCain will have to flop big for me to decide to vote for Obama. However, Obama has broad appeal, if I were a betting man I would not bet against him. No matter what, Obama has made history tonight, the first non-white to be in the running for President of the USA, and to top it all off, he has a very good chance of winning.