Barack Obama's speech - live
Hi everyone - I'm going to be blogging throughout Barack Obama's convention speech tonight, so please keep refreshing the site for new updates.
20:12: He strides out very purposefully, dressed very formally - presidentially, wearing a white shirt and a restrained red tie. The look is sober and that's important.
20:20: He's chosen to lead off on economic themes (which is no surprise) The way he phrases it is so important - he needs to hit home to individuals in mainstream America. I'm not sure he has Biden's touch.
20:29 By the way - it's a stunning evening here in Denver. I mention this because some fundamentalist Christians of a right-wing persuasion prayed for rain - proof that God is a Democrat?
20:35: Quite a brave line there on oil drilling. John McCain is proposing to open up America's coast for drilling, which has proved popular. Obama is sticking to his line that it's not a solution.
20.38: A good line on health. About how he watched his mother arguing on the phone with insurance companies as she lay in bed dying of cancer - an experience familiar to many Americans.
20:41: A very interesting choice of word there - on who would make the better Commander-in-Chief, he asked who had the better temperament. What could he mean?
20:43: Great Bin Laden line - "John McCain says he'd follow Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives."
20:47: A reprise of his very successful 2004 convention speech - there are no Red States or Blue States - only the United States. (Plus - the crowd are chanting USA-USA -usually only heard at Republican conventions).
20:50: Another good line: Don't tell me we can't uphold the second amendment AND keep AK-47s out of the hands of criminals".
Conclusion: This needed to be a serious speech and it was. I'm still not sure about the Doric columns, but he's managed to be convincing despite the overbearing backdrop. One of the features of the speech was the frequent reference to the future. He's not saying McCain's too old for the job - at least not in so many words. But the Obama camp know that Americans are worried about McCain's age and ever so subtly they are making an allusion to it.
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