Unified, energized and embracing a new start

How do I start today’s post without a cliché?

When I sit down to write these words, I ask myself, “What is my mind trying to process — what am I feeling?”

This morning it is hard to keep some trite campaign slogan about “a new beginning” from spilling out, but I feel like a transformation is happening.

Attending a national party convention for the first time is a consuming experience.

Seasoned veterans of these spectacles may be immune from the ebbs and flows of emotion and enthusiasm, but I am not.

For 25 years, I stayed away from politics, allowing myself to be the disinterested critic who eschewed the “pettiness” and moral compromises of politics.

Some of my friends still take pleasure in mocking those who serve or seek power in order to effect change. Certainly there are those who fail to live up to their promise, and the nature of political compromise is such that there will always be some level of disappointment.

However, today I am sensing something emerging that re-inserts meaning into the process of politics. It began last night, surprising enough to me, with the fiery speech from Dennis Kucinich.

Governors Deval Patrick and Brian Schweitzer, then reminded me why I became part of this process. Of course, it was Hillary Clinton who put the coup de grace on the evening when, like the matriarch she is, brought us together as a “family of Democrats.”

If last night was unifying, this morning was rejuvenating. Senators Barbara Boxer, John Kerry and Claire McCaskill echoed several messages from last night that reinforced the bonds we share under our “big tent.”

Whether it was Boxer affirming “the three things we believe in: Hope, Opportunity and Fairness” or Kerry recounting how a wave of grassroots efforts in the early 70’s ushered in many of the laws and programs we value today, it became clear that “our time is now.”

However, I think my wife had the most salient point of the morning. After Kerry finished a speech that reminded me why he had won my support in 2004, my wife turned to me and said, “It is so disappointing to hear him speak and then realize who is in the White House.”

That significance of this moment seemed crystal clear.

When I heard McCaskill challenge us “to commit for the next 70 days because nothing is more important” to the well being of this country, I knew she was right. I’ll trade 70 days for four years any time.

As I conclude this post, expectation is building over former President Clinton’s speech tonight. Regardless of how the media may dissect it, I expect to be reminded of the state of this country when we handed it over to President Bush almost eight years ago.

Perhaps there is no one better to frame what is at stake in this election and set the stage for Joe Biden.