Charlie_Brennan's Blog

One full day into its biggest challenge in many a year, it appears Denver hasn't blinked.

It's dangerous to judge anything this big this early in the game. But Monday showed no evidence that this former cow town is not up to this very considerable and historic test . Denver has not blown its big moment. At least, not yet.

Also on Monday, the Democratic Party graced one of its living legends with a stirring farewell even as it prepared to bestow its blessings on the brightest star of its present and at least its near future.

And Recreate 68 at least now has another four20full years to create something more impressive than we've seen from them to date.

I never expected the activists to flood Denver with the 50,000 fevered protesters that the omnipresent Glenn Spagnuolo famously projected. Or even 25,000. But I must admit that when I phoned a journalism colleague from my post at the Pepsi Center about 5:30 p.m. Monday to see whether they had managed to encircle and levitate the U.S. Mint as promised, I certainly anticipated they'd have more than the 70 sons of Abbie and Jerry that they in fact mustered.

Seventy. That's not enough to levitate - or even to encircle - a Starbucks.

It never made sense to me that a packed Coors Fields' worth of political activists would take to Denver's streets to rage against the party more likely to push for a faster withdrawal from Iraq and a more substantive move toward developing alternative energy, just to name two of Recreate 68's favored issues. I would have thought they'd be making St. Paul and the Republicans their primary target. 

For months, and months, Recreate 68 had managed to create an impression that this week was not so much about the coronation of the Democratic Party's bright young prince, but much more, about them. Monday, despite some street brushfires and a relative handful of arrests, reminded us what this week is about. And, it's not about Glenn Spagnuolo.

(As I write this, it's 2:05 a.m. Tuesday, and I hear sirens in the distance outside the Grand Hyatt, where I'm holed up with the Colorado delegation. Those sirens might be for a drunk driver who put his or her car into Cherry Creek, but it's also a reminder that there's still plenty of time left for bad things to happen. However, isn't that always the case?)

It was into the early afternoon Monday when I first heard that not only would there be a prime time tribute to the ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, but that he might also make an appearance onstage. And even when it became obvious, as I pressed up against the stage at the Pepsi Center, that he was going to be there in person, I still doubted he would speak at any length, given his ongoing struggle with brain cancer.

Not only did Kennedy speak, but he provided the first night's most indelible highlight, preaching with passion and fiery conviction about the need for Washington and the nation at large to make affordable health care for all a true priority, Regardless of one's political affiliation, it would be hard to imagine a more credible voice on the subject, or to dismiss his oratory as simply more politics. Called upon, seemingly, merely to step up to receive a fat helping of adoration, Kennedy instead showed that even at something short of half-strength, he has a fighter's heart and the staying power of a true believer. It might have been his last, most meaningful moment at politics' center stage. And if it was, he made it much more than a ceremonial star-turn. He left it all, as they say, out on the field.

Monday was game-planned to be Michelle Obama's night, and she did a fine job of telling America that she loves this country and why her husband, the guy with the "funny name," as she20said, is someone they could and should be comfortable with at the helm of a nation in need of a strong hand. It is remarkable to me that pundits still talk about Americans feeling they still don't adequately know someone who has essentially been living on our television screens and front pages for the better part of two years. But, the polls say that's the case for many. And we all know the polls don't lie.

It's not Michelle Obama's fault that she ended up, in my sight, in the also-deserving-mention category the night on which she was meant to be the featured speaker and Big Story.

Ted Kennedy gave she who would be our next First Lady an extremely tough act to follow.  He's pulled that trick once or twice before.