Many in the audience in Denver and at home probably noticed how Barack Obama's cadence changed toward the end of his acceptance speech as he took on the tone of a preacher.  It might take some discussion to understand the signficance of his closing line, one that may have been offered as a central statement of his faith as well as the message of his campaign.  "Let us hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess."

The reference is to Paul's letter to the Hebrews, Ch. 10, v. 23.  This section of the epistle is a celebration of possibility, how all Christians can now, through the sacrifice of Jesus, enter "boldly into the sanctuary," which was previously reserved only for the priests of the Hebrew covenant. This chapter endorses a radical equality, the priesthood of all believers.  With this radical equality comes a mutual responsibility.  In the lines following those quoted by Obama is this exhortation: "We ought to see how each of us may best arouse others to love and active goodness."  And Paul also exhorts his audience to boldness, as in the last verse of the chapter: "We are not among those who shrink back and are lost; we have the faith to make life our own."

I believe this was not a scriptural reference offered by a campaign religious advisor.  This reference seems an absolutely sincere expression of faith and the spiritual grounding of Obama's bold endeavor.

-J. Hannon

Wow, the Republicans in the First Congressional District are awfully desperate about facing Heather Ryan. Not only do they steal and vandalize her campaign signs, while they have over a million dollars to spend on their own, but they actually attack her for doing a fundraiser to help battered women at a place called the Merryman House.

I never, ever, ever should have switched over to Fox. But I couldn't resist. I couldn't help myself.

Well, why go and ruin the best political speech I've heard, firsthand, in my lifetime, with some second-rate commentary?

This is the shortest diary I've ever written. There's really nothing much more to say, other than the full-text version of the prepared speech is available via THIS LINK.

And, it looks like he stuck to the brilliant words almost verbatim.

Can everyone stop whining now?

My question for the last night of the convention is:

What do we do now?  If we thought that the ads from McCain were bad, are we really going to wait for them to get their brainstorming going during and after their convention?  Are we going to wait for a repeat of 2004?  I guess my real question is this: Is it time for the democrats to hit hard or do you think that negative ads would only hurt?

Barack Obama has just begun to speak to an audience of 75,000 Americans in Denver. Some spinners, sheisters, and hucksters like to claim< that this is the coronation of the Messiah by his thousands of adoring worshipers. I beg to differ. Those people are nothing more than empty cynics. When Americans come together, when we coalesce, when we seek a better future, and when we respond to a politician who believes in those same ideals, we are not establishing a new religion; we are following in the footsteps of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay,and George Washington. We are looking to a better future, and we are coming together and, as one nation, indivisible, we are making it happen.

The facts are these. Fifty years ago, a black man in America could not eat in the same diners as a white man - he had to walk around back and pick up his dinner by the dumpster. He could not use the same clean restrooms and water fountains - he had to seek out the dirty, roach-infested stalls and broken plumbing. He could not send his daughter to the same public schools; he had to make her walk three miles across town to the shack with outdated text books and untrained teachers. He could not walk down the street and admire the clouds; he had to walk down the street and look behind every corner, afraid of a lynching. This was not the occasional inconvenience: It. Was. Life. Every moment, of every day.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (08/27/1908 - 08/27/2008)