The Conventions
Jillian Melchior
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: News
When Barack Obama took the stage, the crowd writhed in frightening ecstasy.
But what could I expect in an election largely based on charisma, not credentials?
The day before, I worked on a piece about what young people thought Obama means by "change" and "hope."
Several of the 20-something Obama supporters offered an answer: something along the lines of wishing we were out of Iraq, that everyone had health care, that the economy would get better, that a Democrat, not a Republican, would take office.
But most disturbing were the people who responded: "What do hope and change mean? That's a good question. I hadn't really thought of that before."
So I wasn't as surprised as I may have been at the way Obama titillated the crowd.
I headed into Invesco Center (the football field of the Denver Broncos) at about 2:30 p.m. on the media bus. I didn't settle into my seat until after 4 because of the intense security - and as a member of the media, I was luckier than most.
The line to get into the stadium stretched 2.5 miles, I heard. I believe it; people wound from the stadium, over Interstate 25, and throughout downtown. It was a hot day, and the sweaty crowd waved signs as they marched, an army of Obamaites.
I sat in the nosebleed section, watching the huge field fill. Estimates report 84,000 people packed into the stadium. Vacant seats were few and far between. Various Democrat elite took the stage, working the crowd into a fervor.
Obama wouldn't be on until after 8. But at 4, the mood was electric, and the hype continued to build. People rose to their feet applauding the speakers, borrowed and chanted their catch phrases, including "Sí, se puede" ("Yes, we can," in Spanish), but historically, a mantra of communists in the Spanish Civil War and communists in other Latino countries.
A woman handed out American flags for spectators to wave. I didn't want one, especially because I was there to report. People looked at me incredulously.
But what could I expect in an election largely based on charisma, not credentials?
The day before, I worked on a piece about what young people thought Obama means by "change" and "hope."
Several of the 20-something Obama supporters offered an answer: something along the lines of wishing we were out of Iraq, that everyone had health care, that the economy would get better, that a Democrat, not a Republican, would take office.
But most disturbing were the people who responded: "What do hope and change mean? That's a good question. I hadn't really thought of that before."
So I wasn't as surprised as I may have been at the way Obama titillated the crowd.
I headed into Invesco Center (the football field of the Denver Broncos) at about 2:30 p.m. on the media bus. I didn't settle into my seat until after 4 because of the intense security - and as a member of the media, I was luckier than most.
The line to get into the stadium stretched 2.5 miles, I heard. I believe it; people wound from the stadium, over Interstate 25, and throughout downtown. It was a hot day, and the sweaty crowd waved signs as they marched, an army of Obamaites.
I sat in the nosebleed section, watching the huge field fill. Estimates report 84,000 people packed into the stadium. Vacant seats were few and far between. Various Democrat elite took the stage, working the crowd into a fervor.
Obama wouldn't be on until after 8. But at 4, the mood was electric, and the hype continued to build. People rose to their feet applauding the speakers, borrowed and chanted their catch phrases, including "Sí, se puede" ("Yes, we can," in Spanish), but historically, a mantra of communists in the Spanish Civil War and communists in other Latino countries.
A woman handed out American flags for spectators to wave. I didn't want one, especially because I was there to report. People looked at me incredulously.
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