Big speeches, clashes mark first day

Michelle Obama, Ted Kennedy thrill delegates; cops corral demonstrators

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 26, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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The band played and the flags waved and the Democrats got down to business Monday - introducing Barack Obama to would-be voters, honoring the party's most famous son, working to heal the lingering rift with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

And on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama gave the world a glimpse of her and her husband they desperately want voters to see.

That waited, however, until after the party faithful paid tribute to Ted Kennedy, the ailing liberal lion of the U.S. Senate whose appearance in Denver wasn't a sure thing until he stepped onto the stage at the Pepsi Center.

Michelle Obama was the night's feature, and she was poised and calm as she looked into the television cameras and began, in earnest, crafting the narrative the campaign will stress in the weeks ahead.

That she and her husband are everyday Americans. That they came from humble backgrounds and worked hard to go to college. That they devoted their lives to their families. That they know and understand the problems of common men and women because they've experienced them.

"I come here tonight as a sister, blessed with a brother who is my mentor, my protector and my lifelong friend," Obama said after taking the stage about 8:30 p.m. "And I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president. And I come here as a mom, as a mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world - they're the first things I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about before I go to bed at night.

"Their future - and all our children's future - is my stake in this election."

'Affirming embrace'

She talked about her childhood on the South Side of Chicago, her father a blue-collar city worker, her mother at home raising her and her brother.

"Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values," she said. "That you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do. That you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them."

A little later, after she'd wrapped up her speech and the applause died down, convention-goers were treated to a televised appearance by Barack Obama via satellite link from Kansas City. The couple's 7-year-old daughter, Sasha, stole the show, asking at one point, "where are you, Daddy?" and answering "I think she did good" when her father sought an assessment of the speech.

The exchange capped a day that had been more than 18 months in the planning.

Helicopters hovered

It was a day that saw many things that were expected - and a few that weren't.

A deluge of people worked their way along the 16th Street Mall, where the shuttle bus drivers honked and braked as out-of-towners got used to the idea of getting out of the way.

Helicopters clattered overhead and a heavy contingent of law officers moved through the city. Newly minted vice presidential candidate Joe Biden stopped downtown for some barbecue. And supporters of third-party candidate Ralph Nader paraded in his honor.

One group of protesters marched to the federal courthouse, where police officers watched as three men dressed in fatigues shoved a fourth man onto a wooden plank, stuffed a towel over his face and poured gallons of water on him to simulate a water-boarding torture tactic.

"This is unbearable physical torture. It is purposeful, controlled drowning," said one of the three men dressed in fatigues. "It is illegal and the people who work inside the federal courthouse are charged with the responsibility of enforcing these laws."

Another group of protesters moved up against the Webb Building on the northeast corner of Civic Center, where they were corralled by a phalanx of police officers during the evening.

But it was also a day that served as a reminder of the times as authorities investigated - and discredited - a potential plot to assassinate Obama.

A party inside

But inside the convention hall, it was a party.

"My insides are jumping," said Lynn Young, a delegate from Colorado Springs.

Obama is sometimes called a "rock star" for the huge crowds he draws, for the telegenic way he connects with people. On Monday night, a basketball and hockey arena turned convention hall played the part.

Pounding drums. Swirling spotlights. A roaring - and adoring - throng.

From a purely political point of view, Michelle Obama's address may have been the most important of the night.

But it came on an evening that belonged, in many ways, to Ted Kennedy, the scion of America's most famous political dynasty who was diagnosed earlier this summer with a cancerous brain tumor. As late as Sunday, when he was released from the hospital, it was not clear whether he would be well enough to make the trip to Denver - and, indeed, he did not appear on the official schedule of events for the evening.

His niece, Caroline Kennedy, stepped to the microphone to both stump for Obama and introduce a video tribute to the man she calls "Uncle Teddy."

Images of Kennedy sailing with his grandson and speaking on health care flashed on the big screens in the arena. And then he was there, looking pale but steady, pumping his fists and waving as he crossed the stage, a sea of blue-and-white "Kennedy" signs before him.

"Nothing - nothing - is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight," he boomed.

Serious undertone

But despite all the warmth in the convention hall, a serious undertone drifted through the first day of the convention as the much-examined rift between Barack Obama and both Bill and Hillary Clinton lingered. Some saw Obama's entire campaign - and his constant call for change - as nothing less than a disrespectful slap at Bill Clinton's legacy. The bad feeling lingered long after the mathematics made it clear in August that Hillary Clinton could not overcome Obama's lead in delegates.

Michelle Obama took a shot at allaying that feeling during her speech, praising Hillary Clinton for putting "those 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling, so that our daughters and our sons can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher."

Clinton, for her part, said many of the right things after arriving in Denver.

She said she would release her delegates on Wednesday, allowing them to vote for Obama's nomination even as the two sides negotiated the terms of the vote. She said she was confident that her pledged delegates are committed to supporting Obama.

But she also said each faced a "personal decision."

"A lot of them feel they represent people who sent them here to vote for me," the New York senator said.

Clinton's comments came after she called on New York delegates to unite behind the Obama-Biden ticket or risk facing four more years of policies like those instituted by President Bush - policies she said would continue should the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain, win the White House.

"Honest to goodness, how many times can you yell at your TV screen?" Clinton said, drawing laughter and shouts from the crowd.

Tonight, Clinton will look into the television cameras. What she says may help end the dispute rippling through the party.

vaughank@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5019. Aaron J. Lopez, Carrie Porter, Judi Villa, April M. Washington and John C. Ensslin contributed to this report.

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