Sont Les Mots Qui Vont Très Bien Ensemble

Michelle said:

I know firsthand from their lives — and mine — that the American dream endures.

I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history — knowing that my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me.

That is the thread that connects our hearts. That is the thread that runs through my journey and Barack’s journey and so many other improbable journeys that have brought us here tonight, where the current of history meets this new tide of hope. That is why I love this country.

In honor of my father's memory and my daughters' future, out of gratitude for those whose triumphs we honor this week, and those whose everyday sacrifices have brought us to this moment, let us devote ourselves to finishing their work, let us work to fulfill their hopes...

Karl Rove said:

I don’t think she did too well on saying I love America. That wasn’t adequate enough...

As Bug Bunny used to say of an equally pudgy, baby-faced, self-deluded closet case: "What a maroon! What an ignoramus!" After that speech, and after watching the short film narrated by Michelle's mother, any rational nation would, like me, be totally head-over-heels, stars-in-the-eyes, bluebird-twittering, hearts-and-arrows,puppy dog/bubblegum/Dynamite magazine in love with Michelle Obama. So, yeah, I think Michelle Obama sufficiently loves America, but the real question is: Do you think she'd like me? I was thinking of sending her a note in homeroom.

------

The Ted Kennedy video -- prepared by Ken Burns, or so Jim Lehrer told me -- made me tear up, particularly the soldier's father who met Kennedy at his son's funeral. And then Uncle Teddy came out to speak and seemed totally healthy and hale and larger than life. It was sort of like watching Gandalf fall into that moat with the kraken, presumably to his death, only to return with more power and stature than he'd previously had. The PBS analysts got positively gushy about Ted, with Mark Shields calling him the greatest senator of the century. (He did not specify which century, but let's hope its the 21st.)

------

I was a bit upset that Carter didn't speak, instead just waving to the conventioneers along with Roslyn. He did pop up on the PBS set, where it seemed that something was amiss with his left eye, or possibly the whole left side of his face. Jimmy Carter made an impassioned argument that an Obama presidency "will be the transforming [moment] for the end of racism, and prejudice, and hatred between races in this country." It sure is pretty to think so. It was cute, also, when -- as Jim Lehrer cut away -- the viewer heard Carter exitedly asking David Brooks if he liked the Joe Biden decision, making an 83-year-old statesman sound like a giddy fanboy.