Losing my shit on Day 3 of the DNC

By Dana Stewart
Published: August 28th, 2008 | 10:50am

I never thought of myself as a flag-waver. I’ve never been an anarchist or truly anti-American in any way, but I never thought I would voluntarily wave a flag back and forth for the purposes of celebrating something about America.

Well, that’s all changed. Wednesday’s program of speeches at the Democratic National Convention was probably some of the most exciting hours of my life. Not to give away the end of the story, but there’s no way around it: Barack Obama made a surprise appearance at the end of the night, and I, along with about 20,000 other people, pretty much lost my shit.

I should say, before anything else, that I have somewhat romantic, almost metaphysical, ideals about The Candidate. To see him, in the same building that I was in, to see his shadow and his real face when I zoomed in with my camera was sort of out-of-body for me. I won’t go into the details of why I believe Obama, and the fact of his political success, to be the definition of cultural transcendence, but needless to say I’m a pretty big fan.

Out-of-body experience aside, there was a ton of stuff going on in Denver on Wednesday, only a fraction of which a person could attend. I started my day with a bike ride up to the Andenken Gallery, to see the “Manifest Hope” art show. As the gallery was two miles north of the main Convention proceedings, I availed myself of one of the free bikes offered by Freewheelin’, a bike loaner service sponsored by Humana Insurance. Freewheelin’ also will be set up at the Republican Convention and offers about a thousand bikes to both conventions for participants to check out for free (they take your credit card number, but you’re not charged if you return it). It’s a pretty sweet program, and although the Trek “Lime” coasting bike took a little getting used to, I made it up to the art gallery and back in one piece.

Manifest Hope is a project started with MoveOn.org and a bunch of sponsors and celebrity art judges like Thurston Moore and DJ Spooky, which gathered what they considered the best art celebrating the 2008 election. Turns out most of the “best” art features Barack Obama. Regardless, it was a fun, high-quality show with a diverse representation of style and medium, and also had an excellent gift shop where I got a T-shirt with an image by Ray Noland, aka CRO. Noland, from Chicago, started the Web site “Go Tell Mama (I’m for Obama)” in 2006, featuring his Warhol-meets-Adobe-Illustrator street posters. His images have now become some of the most iconic illustrations for the Obama movement, even sanctioned by the campaign itself. Apart from being a big hit at the Manifest Hope show, Noland’s designs are seen all over Denver this week, on T-shirts, buttons, stickers, and even someone’s arm cast. It’s hard to recall a poster artist who has been as successful at capturing the zeitgeist of a Presidential campaign; in fact it’s likely there has never been any posters like Noland’s.

I had a tough choice in the late afternoon; I wanted to see a piece by performance artist Sharon Hayes called “I Am Your Worst Enemy,” where she was going to have a hundred strangers read from the same script, but also at 5 p.m. was Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. Hayes’ performance would no doubt have been more interesting, but I’m glad I got to the Pepsi Center when I did on Wednesday afternoon. In contrast to the past two afternoons, the place was pack-shack before 4 p.m., and people were fighting for seats by 6:30. On my way in, I was nearly mowed over by a fast-moving golf cart carrying none other than super-powerful Republican strategist Karl Rove, who had a peculiar smile on his face, given how deep he was behind enemy lines. Some folks were catcalling after him, I heard one guy shout, “Hey, Turd Blossom!” and another threatened, “Yeah, you’d better run, Karl!” as he and his entourage rushed up the stairs to the FOX News booth.

I arrived at the convention center in time to see the Official Roll Call, the bureaucratic process for officially nominating a Democratic candidate for President. In alphabetical order, each state was given a chance to stand up and state their votes, usually split about 90/10 for Obama/Clinton. The process ended in a thrilling way, however; once they got to “New Mexico,” everyone could see a whoosh of people moving toward the front of the New York delegation. Soon enough, we could all see that it was Hillary Clinton, making a surprise appearance to represent the delegates from the Empire State. Instead of simply voting, however, she made a parliamentary “motion,” which amounted to the following: “I would like us to stop taking votes and simply declare Obama the nominee.” Convention Chair Nancy Peolsi then asked the Pepsi Center audience, “Do I have a second?”, to which everyone shouted agreement. “All in favor, say aye!” “AYE!” “All opposed? The motion passes!” Pelosi continued, “I have been told to inform you that Senator Obama accepts the nomination!”

The crowd went nuts. At that moment, it became real to me that we have the first real black candidate. I don’t feel like patting myself on the back, which I see a lot of the media doing, but I do feel dumbstruck by the importance of this. Again, I won’t go into the details, but every American should be able to form their own opinion on the cultural significance of this event.

Mayor Daley made his scheduled appearance at 5 p.m., which was a little dry, but it was still nice to see a familiar face. He was followed by Florida Representative Robert Wexler, who apparently had been drafted by the State of Israel to present its case to the Democratic Party. Singer Melissa Etheridge brought the crowd back to its feet with a patriotic medley, featuring “The Times They Are a Changin’” by Bob Dylan. The theme of the night was National Security, and they fittingly recruited former Secretary of State and total badass Madeleine Albright to school anyone who was unsure about what’s really going on with our foreign policy.

At 7 p.m., though, the fireworks really went off. With little prelude, Bill Clinton took the stage and pulled out a rousing and effective speech that made some in the hall say things like, “It’s nice to have Bill back.” It was clear he was glad to be there, too; after the seemingly endless standing ovation he received when he appeared behind the podium, he said, “Man, I love this,” but then dove right in to eviscerating the Republican platform, with a phrase like, “We got some work to do here.” Following Clinton was a surprisingly animated John Kerry, who delivered a truly excellent speech that has got to have some McCain supporters thinking twice.

No convention would be complete without at least one Hollywood celebrity, and to that end a tear-jerking film about the shoddy treatment of military vets by Steven Spielberg was shown, narrated by and including Tom Hanks. After the excitement and motivation from Clinton’s speech, there were not a few people crying at the Spielberg film, and I myself felt more pro-military than I think I ever have in my life. The film was followed by rousing speech by former Illinois State Senate candidate and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth, who lost both her legs in the war, drew laughter and cheers of support from the audience, especially when she walked out from behind the podium and made use of her prosthetic legs. I’ve no doubt that if Duckworth ever attempts to run for office again, she’ll win in a landslide.

And then it was the final act. Beau Biden introduced his father, Joe Biden, with an emotionally honest retelling of the tragic death of Beau’s mother and infant sister in 1972, the moral being that Joe Biden is a compassionate and extremely dedicated family man. Joe’s speech didn’t disappoint, it came across as inspiring, true, and exciting. When he was done, his wife Jill (to whom he’s been married since 1977) joined him onstage and said, “Well, Joe, we have a little surprise guest,” to which Biden replied, “Who is it?” and appeared to truly not know.

When Obama appeared live in the flesh from behind a little blue door, all 20,000 people in that auditorium went totally bananas. I myself was screaming with joy, disbelief, and gratitude. Obama basically just said “Hi” to the convention, but it he could have said, “Hey, everyone! Go screw yourselves!” and we would have screamed in adoration, with instant forgiveness.

On Thursday, there’s 75,000 people expected inside the Mile High Stadium to watch his acceptance speech, and another 20,000 or so outside watching on huge screens. As there really is no event to compare this to, we all have no idea what to expect. Even if it rains, and everything’s horrible, I won’t care. I saw Barack Obama, so I can die a happy lady.

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