Final Day - A PLE

A PLE, in the words of Barbara, is a Peak Life Experience.
This day , or at least the evening, was surely that for me.
Something I will remember the rest of my life.

But, first the more mundane part of the day.
In the morning, we attended the second half of the Woman's Caucus. More celebs than the first half. But, pretty much the same theme. We need more women in all levels of government. One speaker avocated a goal of 220 in the House and 50 in the Senate. In case yo have not noticed, that is 59%.
Not being of that gender, I cannot speak directly to the need for that. But, as a father of two girls (Women, really) and the husband of, now two, different wives (at different times, just to clear that up), I fully agree with the concept of woman's equality in all aspects of society. I believe in equality across all lines, be they gender, race, religion, sexual inclination, or any other way to identify people. My father often spoke of discrimination against Jewish people. I never found that as a block to my advancement. My wives have often spoken of sexual discrimination in the workplace. Yet, I my girls never speak of it as preventing their advancement. So, I hope society has advanced beyond that. But, maybe not.
Wow, I sure am getting philosophical this morning.

Maybe Barack Obama inspired me.
Believe me when I say....he inspired EVERYBODY in the 80,000+ audience at Invesco Field with his 47 minute, action packed, acceptance speech. 47 minutes never flew by so fast.
Most of you have heard the speech by now, so I will not repeat much of what he said.
It was not so much what he said as how he said it.
Yes, he did set stark differences between himself and John McCain. He represented himself as standing for the future, while McCain is stays locked in the past. Yes, he did set out an agenda that he would follow, when (my word) he is elected. Energy Independence in 10 years was the one that I liked the best.
No, it was not what he said, but how he said it. Truly inspiring. The audience, me included, was on its feet time after time. The man truly knows how to turn a phrase and inspire his audience to their feet. I have only seen him once before, in support of Jim Webb in a Va rally. Webb was the main event and Obama's job was to warm up the audience. So he was muted.
Last night, Obabma was the main event. And what an event it was. As I said earlier, a PLE.
I have long believed that this country needs a charismatic leader as President. Washington, DC is a controversial place. People rarely agree on anything. It takes a charismatic leader to make things happen. A person the people will follow and drag their Congresspeople along.
Washington had that charisma. Lincoln inspired people. Roosevelt, Clinton., yes even Reagon. Such inspirational leaders come along infrequently. In Barack Obama we have another one. Maybe the best of the lot.
Over and over again, I jumped to my feet, along with virtually everybody else among my 80,000 neighbors to cheer. At the end of the speech I vigorously shook hands with the stanger beside me. As did many others all around me.
Tears came to my eyes when Obama spoke of his humble beginnings. While unlike him, I had both parents to guide me. My beginnings were also quite humble. My father never graduated HS and had two jobs before that became commonplace among lower middle class. My mother worked outside the home. Again, before that was commonplace. I shared a single bedroom with both parents and a sister, and one bathroom with all of them and a grandmother. Like Obama, my parents always valued education. I still remember the beam in my parents eyes at my undergraduate graduation. My PhD made them even prouder.
Like him, I have two daughters. So, I empathize with that responsibility.
OK, so I am no Barack Obama. But he kindled that kind of association in me. And he will kindle that in so many others.
By the end of his speech, maybe even by the middle, I was charged up, not only to vote for him (I was already on board for that) but to work hard for him. Yes, I am also already on board there as well. But, I will do it with greater vigor than I have ever done for any other candidate. I beseech all of the readers of this Blog to do likewise.
What more can I say. Like everybody before him this whole convention, I say we NEED Barack Obama in the White House. Lets get him there!!!!!

Besides Obama himself, the whole evening was high theater. Military leaders, retired to be sure, were trotted out to sing the praises of Obama's leadership ability. Republican converts, African American leaders, Labor leaders, women leaders, common folk. You name it, they were there.
And the end was also high theater. Fireworks.
I will watch with interest to see the Republicans try to match this.

Finally, there are more reasons than I wish to bore you with further about why I want to see Obama win in November.
But, the one I want to leave you with is this......I cannot wait to hear his Inaugural address.
From Denver, this is Alan signing off ....on the Convention anyway.
You will hear more from me about the campaign and life in general.
I hope you will stay tuned.
Alan