  It's been a very interesting four days. This is the first National Convention I have ever actually felt drawn to watch, and I was amazed by the solidarity that I saw over it's duration. The progressives have a cause to ally against in Bush, and they are attempting to spread their message of change and hope to the America that didn't vote the last time. I can remember footage from previous conventions, and they were always places for political power plays. Its an interesting thing to see, and I hope they 'ride that donkey' until they achieve their goals. Frankly, I agree with them myself. Something which I have come to realize recently is that I affiliate with no political parties. I fit well into neither the Democratic nor Republican parties, nor with the slew of 'independants' that I have come across.
I hold no titles, and I (will) vote accordingly. I will vote (when im legal) for whom best represents my goals and aspirations for the direction of the country. Great - now that's over with, on with my coverage of the DNC. I found two speakers in particular impressing upon looking back on the convention. I remember vividly watching as Barack Obama gave a 'keynote' address. It was incredible to watch - he had absolute control over the crowd, and deserved every ounce of it.
His oration, in which he promised not only to work bi-partisan, but to try to 'heal the wounds of a racially divided America' (easy, im paraphrasing), was stunning. After hearing it, I felt hopeful, and I felt positive towards Obama. Despite that being the goal of the speech, I still feel positive about what I heard. I'm fairly convinced that I have seen the very first black president in action. The second speaker that suprised me was Dennis Kucinich.
He gave a firey oration in which he attempted to pull progressives of all backgrounds together. I was truly impressed by his skill in speaking, and how much he could emote while doing so. While I don't think he would have had a snowball's chance in hell in winning a presidential election, I do believe he is an excellent liberal politician, and will continue to be. Even if he doesn't run for office again, I can see him sticking around as a rare form of polticial gadfly. As for Kerry - I suppose that I am most happy that he is choosing to call Bush on his position of 'family values'. Frankly - the Bush administration loses me here as it does almost everywhere else. I don't think that The Shrub has a very wide concept of what a family is, and consequently few people that would benifit from 'family' programs have the right to do so. Not to mention his pro-family drug policies, his pro-family social program cutting, his pro-family tax cut.
As you can tell, I am being facetious, but the hypocrisy gets old pretty quick. I felt the Dems did a decent job of working themselves into gear, it will be interesting to see how Kerry and Edwards develop over the next couple of months. Anyway - I will write more later, with less political motives. 
