When You Grow Up...

"When will we ever have a black president? When will we have a woman president? You think it will ever happen? Can I be president when I grow up?"

For decades, every fourth-grader in the country has asked these questions of their parents and teachers. And now, at long last, we know the answers.

We are in the hangover of a historic and cathartic week - one in which Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Joe Biden, and Bill Clinton united the party behind their dynamic nominee well before Barack Obama gave one of the most stunning speeches of his or anyone else's political career. There has never been a time when so much political talent was assembled with such a singular purpose, with so many glass ceilings shattering all around.

It is a genuine travesty that throughout this remarkable week, we have had a series of stories about Democrats in disarray, about the so-called "rift" splitting the Democratic party, questioning the ability of a party united solidly behind its new captain, to unite behind its new captain.

It was pushed by an unholy trinity of salivating Republicans (who probably don't seem so excited anymore after what they've just witnessed), a few twisted Clinton supporters wrapped up so intensely in a cult of personality that they've been rendered immune to reason and logic, and unfortunately, too many in the traditional media. Even the New York Times is partially guilty. As the convention prepared for the roll call vote yesterday - and as President Clinton, Senator Biden, and Senator Kerry prepared their effusive praise of our nominee - the Times just could not let go of their PUMA obsession:

The roll call vote, to be presided over by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, takes place between 3:45 p.m. and 4:45 p.m., meaning that before most Americans tune into the proceedings Mr. Obama, the Hawaiian-born son of a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, will be the Democrats’ nominee to become the 44th president of the United States.

Mrs. Pelosi said this morning that she expected the roll call to go “very smoothly.”

But the formal nomination of Mr. Obama will not end the drama that has riven the Obama and Clinton camps and provided a consuming story line of this convention.

A consuming story line, indeed. And who is it, exactly, that is authoring that story line?  

Mr. Biden’s task, in what will be the most important speech in his 36-year career in politics, will be to wrest the convention away from the Clintons and back to a sharp focus on the Obama-Biden ticket.

What? The Clintons were not fighting the Obama-Biden ticket this week, not by a long shot. The vast majority of their supporters are not fighting the Obama-Biden ticket. Joe Biden's excellent speech Wednesday night had nothing to do with "wresting the convention away"...for no one, aside from about twelve PUMA protestors scouring the city for cameras, was trying to steal it!

This is why Disunity is still a story. Not because the party is disunited, nor because it has been...but because the New York Times tells you it is.  

Anyone still concerned in the slightest about the ability of the Democratic party to rally behind its dynamic nominees, was not in the Pepsi Center Tuesday night. Although Mark Warner was the keynote speaker last night, the night belonged to Hillary Clinton. This was not an accident; it was very clearly orchestrated by the Obama campaign and the DNC; it was a tip of the hat to a historic campaign and candidacy, a recognition of a glass ceiling forever shattered for our mothers, daughters and friends, and a truly magnanimous move on the part of Barack Obama.

Convention-goers shed tears during the video tribute to Senator Clinton, and 20,000 Democrats united in their support of Barack Obama and Joe Biden  waved Hillary signs, shouted her name in support, and rose to their feet as one when Chelsea Clinton walked on stage to introduce her mother.

And if there was any doubt about the commitment of Senator Clinton to electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden to the nation's highest offices, it should have been put permanently to rest this week. From Gail Collins:

The Democrats in Denver have answered the call for unity with such alacrity that the party resembles one of those big amalgamated critters that are accidentally created at the beginning of Spider-Man movies.

The true tragedy of the obsession with party divisions is that it diminishes the power of a genuinely magic moment. Our country has been waiting decades, centuries even, for the moment when the most successful female candidate in history would pass the baton to the most successful African-American candidate in history, a candidate whose ascension to the Democratic nomination for the presidency will stand forever as a symbol of  everything that is best about America and the American dream.

This convention has been the cathartic conclusion of a primary campaign which has forever changed the face of American politics. It marked the end of nearly two hundred and twenty years of American history during which middle-aged white men have had a virtual stranglehold on the Oval Office. It has not simply cracked glass ceilings for women and minorities, it has shattered them.

Last night proved to every fourth-grader in the country that they really can be anything they want to be when they grow up, and it was the Democratic party and Democratic voters that have made this possible. It is a moment that should make every Democrat - every American - tingle.

Last night, Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States and catapulted the party into the general election with one of the finest political speeches ever given. Take a step back and think about the significance of this event. One has to wonder if those who refuse to let the story of Democratic disunity die, simply cannot appreciate this moment for what it is, regardless of party.

And if they cannot, pity on them. It's likely that most of us remembered to tingle.