Obama Speech at the DNC

FORA.tv wraps up its Democratic National Convention coverage from Denver today. On to St. Paul for the RNC. We will be post-producing a number of DNC events and interviews, including 3 panel discussions on world affairs with a world class line-up of speakers in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations, a conversation between Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Air America/ MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, and convention interviews with the New York Times' David Brooks and writers from FORA partner The New Republic, plus Creative Coalition event interviews with activist actors.

I attended the last night's convention finale at Invesco Field. The line to get in took only several minutes, good timing. I walked the half hour from our HQ hotel to the venue, soaking in the sun and the thickening crowd of conventioneers heading for the event. The only protest was a group insisting that hell is our certain destination if we attend the event. I thought I'd chat them up to get the precise logic behind the prediction but opted instead for the free water being provided by some cheery Coca-Cola employees.

Walking arond the stadium, the only disconnect I experienced were all the concessions with Broncos (NFL) themes. Broncos fans apparently live on a diet of sausages, pizza, and nachos. I didn't get put off by the exuberant stadium atmosphere for the event. It was staged with a combination of good music (John Legend and Will.I.Am stole the show), warm up speeches, some campaign volunteer promotions (text messages!) and the Main Event.

I sat next to Phildell (combination of parents' names...likes it now, not so much when he was seven...) who scored a ticket late in the day by walking into the Westin, determined to go. He is an African-American ordained minister, married to a Caucasian (Republican) wife, former aspiring comedian in Los Angeles and whip smart political thinker. We chatted about the meaning of the event for him, recounted painful and frustrating racial experiences in his life, among people close to him. In the final moments of the speech, when the March on Washington by Dr. King was evoked, here is what he had to say..




A special tip of the hat to our director of content development Stuart Schulzke and our director of media production Trevar Mazza for producing this week's coverage. On to St. Paul!