I came across this column entitled http://www.washingtonpost.com/...from Howard Wolfson in today's Washington Post.
First he does a good job explaining the context in which he, like all other Clinton's supporters perceived Obama.
"For many of us who were part of the Clinton campaign, Sen. Barack Obama's appeal was something we understood only in the abstract (...) Most of us never heard him speak in person. At work 14 hours a day in the war room, we focused on his perceived faults and deficiencies. Our time was spent sharpening and advancing arguments. Skepticism was critical to our efforts. Insulated from Obamamania, I met few Obama supporters and distanced myself from the ones I knew. I lived this way for 18 months."
Mr. Wolfson keeps putting back into perspective...
During the campaign, we scoffed at events like this, mostly because we were not capable of producing them. A cross section of voters waited for hours to enter the stadium and take their seats. As one friend put it, it looked more like an American convention than the convention of any particular political party. The setting raised the bar for Obama's speech. The task before him: Explain what change meant and how it would be accomplished while weaving his own biography into the fabric of America's and laying out an appropriate contrast with John McCain. No one in recent history had attempted this kind of a political conversation with 75,000 people. Barack Obama pulled it off.
and the topper...
For 18 months, I listened to Obama on television, sometimes intently, often just barely -- background noise to a running series of conference calls and meetings and e-mails. In person, my attention undivided, I saw something of what so many others had seen for so long.
Let's all wish a warm welcome home to Howard!
"No Way! No How! No McCain!"