Democratic Convention Mini-Posts: Day One

This election cycle, the Democratic Party's National Convention perfectly aligns with the beginning of my semester. While I wish I could write more extensive pieces, I suspect I will have to limit myself to shorter reactions and impressions of what I see and hear.

One of the themes of the Obama campaign has been hope. I suspect the only word you are more likely to hear or see at one of his rallies, meetings, and appearances is change. Listening to tonight's presentations, I think I learned something important about hope. Hope is not an unachievable dream or delusion based on denial. Hope requires and acceptance of the reality of the situation without being so dominated by that situation that you cannot imagine it changing for the better. That acceptance of a reality that can be changed echoed through all of the speeches. 

You could hear it in Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s references to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Dr. King knew he might have to pay with his life to help bring about a better future for his children and his friends' children. I am sure he would have been more than proud to see his friend's son serve his country in the House of Representatives and continue that legacy of hope when he spoke at the convention of the party that forced through the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s.

You could hear it in President Carter's video presentation as he discussed the failures of our government in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Yet based on his work with Habitat for Humanity and in working with people around the world, he could still believe that it was possible for those failures to be overcome.

You could hear it in Senator Ted Kennedy's speech. He knows he is dying. Nevertheless, he has not given into despair and believes that he may yet live to see his life's goal -- the establishment of health care as a fundamental right rather than a privilege of the elite. With a nod to the premature deaths of his brothers, however, he bravely and selflessly reminded us all that the most powerful hopes and dreams outlive those who hope and dream -- even if they pass before they become reality.

Finally, you could hear it in Michelle Obama's speech as she remembered her husband looking into his rear view mirror at the greatest expression of hope any of us can ever see -- his child -- and committing himself to giving her more than he had.

What you could not hear but could clearly see in the eyes of the delegates was the audacity to hope that their candidate could undo the tragic results of eight years of incompetence and mismanagement and rebuild American prestige and dignity at home and abroad.

For the first time in a long time, they once more can dare to believe in that most resilient of things: the American Dream.