Thoughts on day 1 of the convention

I started watching the Democratic convention last night right before the video tribute to Senator Kennedy and his speech that followed. My wife and I had it on the background while we were doing some cleaning. Later, I stopped to watch Michelle Obama's speech. Wow. It was moving. I know that last night was all warm fuzzies and party unity and all that, but I still felt moved. And proud to be a Democrat.

Along the bottom of the screen CNN had these running facts about the delegates and about the convention. I remember seeing that about a quarter of the delegates are African American. About 6 percent are gay or lesbian. About 10 percent are Hispanic. I realized that this party reflects America's diversity in a way that I think the other party does not.

I think in the next few days we'll see speakers get tough on McCain and tough on what Republican rule has done in the last 8 years. But last night was a chance to remember the kind of dream many of us have for this great nation, and how much is riding on November's election.

Here's Michelle Obama's speech:


And here's Kennedy's speech: