Day Four: Celebration and Getting Down to Work

85,000 celebrate at the finale of the Democratic National Convention.

My apologies for the delay in completing this blog. It took some time to go through my photos and edit them in between tackling a thousand email backlog, hours of volunteering at our Art & Soul Festival and back-to-back meetings back home in Oakland.

The last day started to move the delegation towards the politics and work here at home. We heard from two more of the presumptive candidates for Governor, two big city mayors Gavin Newsom and Antonio Villagarosa. The only two candidates we did not see were Attorney General and Oakland resident Jerry Brown, who was on a long promised vacation with his wife, and Senator Feinstein who injured her ankle and who leads the polls. She has said that whether she runs depends on how the fall election goes. If the Dems gain seats in the Senate and if Obama wins, her powerful committee positions will allow her to move legislation blocked by Bush and Republican fillabusters over the last 8 years. We also heard Leon Panetta, former Clinton chief of staff (above), and heard that the initiative to ban gay marriage appears to be going down to defeat.

We were addressed by the Obama state party organizers and began the discussion of the upcoming united campaign. We were urged to continue to register new voters and to help organize local precinct efforts. Californians are urged to help in nearby states by phone or by travel to states like Nevada.

Soon after, most of us prepared with hats and sunscreen for a long hot day at Invesco Field, the home of the Broncos. I made a quick run by a reception for our women Senators, then headed off for what we were told would be an even longer security check. For many people it was a two hour wait, our group of Bay Area delegates and guests heard from a security guard that gates beyond where delegates were dropped off were relatively short. We took the ten minute hike got in within half an hour. We had time to find our seats buy stadium food and drinks and visit with other delegates. By now all the celebrity delegates had arrived except for our state legislators stuck in Sacramento. I watched Gray Davis, Michael Dukakis, Willie Brown, and Hollywood stars walk by.

The program started with one of the most meaningful moments of the convention as the children of Martin Luther King led and his former lieutenant Rep. John Lewis spoke to us on this day that was also the 45th anniversary of the "I Have a Dream Speech." Hearing the his words again and thinking of how far we have come and of how we still have a way to go, was heartfelt by the many of us who lived through the civil rights struggles.

The top notch entertainment with Stevie Wonder, Cheryl Crow and others added to a festive spirit that was was more exciting because of the size the audience, 85000. I was told the fire marshalls turned late comers away. The Republicans made fun of being in a stadium, but the last laugh will be on them if we win the swing state of Colorado.

The young Latino Colorado state organizer taught us all how to text message and got 30,000 more volunteers by the time Obama spoke! The packed stadium was filled by state activists. In fact, the delegates own families were not sure if they were going to get into the stadium because the DNC wanted to support the Colorado effort. Floyd was ready to watch at the Convention Center with other spouses and friends as he had for the first 3 nights, but on Thursday morning he and the other family members got their tickets up in the third tier. The synergy between the crowd and delegates blended when the audience started a "wave," reminding us that they were there, too!

The most unexpected part of the evening for me was the large number of generals, admirals and high commanders who came out to support Obama. It reminded me of the anger over how ill prepared and poorly planned the Iraq War has been, meanwhile Afghanistan may now be more of an enemy than ever before. We saw a short documentary tribute to the Iraq veterans produced by Steven Spielberg and narrated by Oakland native Tom Hanks (right).

Every time I see Al Gore these days, I can't help saying to myself...why wasn't he like this 8 years ago? But if you want to think about Vice Presidents, compare Palin's views that doubt global warming and her opposition to adding polar bears to the endangered species list to this:

"So why is this election so close? Well, I know something about close elections, so let me offer you my opinion. I believe this election is close today mainly because the forces of the status quo are desperately afraid of the change Barack Obama represents. There is no better example than the climate crisis. As I have said for many years throughout this land, we’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the future of human civilization. Every bit of that has to change. Oil company profits have soared to record levels, gasoline prices have gone through the roof and we are more dependent than ever on dirty and dangerous fossil fuels. Many scientists predict that the entire north polar ice cap may be completely gone during summer months in the first term of the next president. Sea levels are rising, fires are raging, storms are stronger. Military experts warn us our national security is threatened by massive waves of climate refugees destabilizing countries around the world, and scientists tell us the very web of life is endangered by unprecedented extinctions. We are facing a planetary emergency which, if not solved, would exceed anything we’ve ever experienced in the history of humankind. In spite of John McCain’s past record of open mindedness on the climate crisis, he has apparently now allowed his party to browbeat him into abandoning his support of mandatory caps on global warming pollution. "

Obama's acceptance speech was seen by more Americans than the Super Bowl. This increased interest in national politics and our new hope for the future is the most amazing aspect of this year. Young people have not been this involved in politics since my youth. We need to take this positive energy in reshaping our community. I hope we can all take this as an opportunity to think about democracy and how each of us can be involved. Whether you take some time to campaign for your presidential choice, work on one of the local campaigns or initiatives or volunteer for your neighborhood alert group...Together we can build a better future for our city and our country.