Chip Roberson: A "Grand Slam" night

It’s 9:30 p.m., and I’m on the bus heading back to our hotel. I just experienced one of those evenings that seems to defy one’s ability to describe it.

It was a total emersion, and I’m just starting to process what I experienced.

Every seat was filled, and even members of Congress were trying to find somewhere to sit.

The expectation as William Jefferson Clinton came on stage was laced with tremendous excitement. In that moment, when he took the rostrum and began to speak, I realized why I liked and admired him in the 1990’s. Somehow, over the years my memory of him had been tarnished, but in a matter of minutes, he reminded all of us why we are Democrats, why we love our country and why Barack Obama is the leader we want and need. For me it was a Grand Slam of speech.

Once again John Kerry took the stage, and, in one swift stroke after another, deconstructed the Bush administration, Republican “rule” and the polices of the McCain campaign.

This is does not feel like 2004, by any measure.

Finally, Joe Biden came on stage and spoke from his heart. His story, like so many others we’ve heard over the past three days, is one of family and overcoming.

In a style reminiscent of Obama’s, he gave us many reasons to believe he understands the concerns and aspirations we all have.

I left the Pepsi Center with a sense of a man who has empathy, and that is something I find currently lacking in the White House.