Hillary's Night
By afine, 08/27/2008 - 12:17am

It was finally Hillary’s night, but it was only Tuesday not the Thursday slot she expected. She was the salutatorian not the valedictorian.

After suffering through a long line of incredibly boring speakers, HIllary electrified the hall tonight. Convention goers waited through hours of yada yada by a string of largely little known elected officials. Listening to the incredibly dull Mark Warner who was the keynote speaker. He followed Obama as the Tuesday night keynoter in the same way that some guy followed John Elway as quarterback of the Broncos.

I wasn't sure how the dullness was playing out at home, so I called my sister and she confirmed that it was just as dull at home as it was in the hall.

Maybe it’s purposeful on the part of the DNC to make the good speakers that much more exciting to listen to in comparison to the dullards – or maybe it’s reflective of just how hard it is to be a good speechmaker. Or maybe I'm just overthinking the whole thing!

But at last, Hillary takes the stage in her peach pantsuit. It was fascinating to watch an army of fluorescent-vested volunteers passing out Unity handsigns to all of the delegates on the floor. The precise choreography between Hillary's speech, the raised lights for celebrations and substitutions of the signs went flawlessly. Hillary didn't have to have great oratory, she could have just stood at the podium and her legion of delegates and fans would have cheered themselves hoarse. Of course, she gave an articulate and rousing speech that was electrifying to hear in person.

And now the DNC is clearly done highlighting women. How do I know? Well, of the 25 speakers who will talk in prime time for the next two days only two are women. Sure hope those 23 are a lot more exciting than the slew of them who spoke tonight!

Odd techno fact: A reporter can power up in the Pepsi Center but can't get wifi; a blogger can get wifi but can't power up in the Big Tent. So bloggers report early and reporters late!

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