If there is one speech that you do not want to miss this entire election cycle, it is tonight’s acceptance of the Democratic Party’s nomination by Barack Obama. 

First of all, there’s just the sheer historical significance of the event.  Since the first presidential election in 1789, there have been more than 100 nominees from major political parties.  Obama will be the first that is something other than a white male.  I do not believe that it is possible to understate what this means for the roughly 71% of the American population who have until now been unrepresented in every single general election.

Nonetheless, the barrier-breaking beauty of the Obama campaign has gotten disturbingly little attention by the media.  They seem obsessed with creating disunity and controversy at what has turned out to be a very unified and celebratory event.  So please, if you are not already doing so, take a minute to step back, breath in the air of history, and enjoy the moment - because tonight, for the very first time, a member of a minority takes the reins of a major party’s presidential campaign.

But beyond the historical drama, tonight’s speech by Obama promises to be an electrifying event in and of itself.  Already during this campaign, we have been treated to a number of his scintillating orations - from his moving treatment of race in America given in the wake of the Jeremiah Wright controversy; to his stunning appearance in front of 200,000 adoring Berliners; to the inspirational everyday stump speech that I was privileged to witness on a freezing January day in Clemson, South Carolina. 

The man knows how to speak, and he has proven that he can step up his game for big occassions.  Tonight is as big as it gets, so I for one am expecting the amazing.

And it’s not that I’m a huge Obama fan.  I am supporting him, but with some serious reservations about his increasingly centrist policies.  My good feelings for tonight come more from an appreciation of the evening’s transcendent possibilities than from any kind of partisan support of Obama or his positions.  The moments we will witness tonight and in the next few months will be ones that we will tell our children and grandchildren about.  Let’s enjoy them while they last.