The Denver Symphony Orchestra

After an epic, bruising, historic primary battle, the 2008 Democratic National Convention was  never going to be simple. "Conventional" wisdom held, rightly I think, that Obama came to Denver with serious political problems. He leaves town with all of them vastly improved, even if none are fully resolved.

First, Obama arrived with a Clinton problem -- and you don't want to run for President as a Democrat in 2008 with a Clinton problem. The Clintons and their supporters were still muttering that Obama could not beat McCain. Alarmingly, some polls showed that the share of Hillary supporters committed to Obama was actually declining.

Bill was all but marinating in Shakespearean self-pity -- that feeling that he is no longer The Natural. It cannot be fun for him to suffer defeat at the hands of someone so like himself: a hot political talent graced with an Ivy education, a charmed political touch, a delightful family, and charisma to spare. That hurt -- and the big dog was pouting.

Obama made things worse by waiting until the convention to announce his running mate, thus rubbing fresh salt in the wounds of the Hillaryites. It mattered not a bit that Biden was a fine choice and that Hillary was never expected to be on the ticket -- the Clintonites were not getting over it and it showed in the polls. There was no serious talk of a floor fight -- but some delegates arrived in Denver in a foul mood.

Nor were Obama's problems limited to Clinton or to women of a certain age. His oratory was not connecting with white men who were blue collar, Catholic, or Southern. Biden would help -- but the candidate himself had plenty to prove: he needed to show that he had learned from the thrashing Hillary gave him in blue collar states.

Finally, people had started to ask whether Obama was tough enough for the job. As Bill Clinton famously noted, "Americans will vote for somebody who is tough but wrong over someone who is weak but right".In short, Obama arrived in town with a nomination, but without a Party unified and motivated enough to elect him.

Beyond the Party, things looked worse. Many, many Americans don't watch politics until the Olympics are over. For these folks, Barack Obama was simply the Brother from Another Planet. Who sent him? Why, exactly, did the Democrats nominate him? He's black, right? And is he really Muslim? (It's not data, but I have been often asked this question at my neighborhood gym. Too many bodybuilders neglect the muscles between their ears).

The pundits smelled blood and arrived loaded for bear. The first night of the convention you could hear the Carvilles and Begalas grouse "Where's the beef?" "Is anybody here going to bother to attack John McCain?" "What bonehead decided to move us all to a stadium for the big speech? Is Barack going to descend on a wire like Beijing?" "...and what genius scheduled Mr. soaring oratory to speak on the 45th anniversary of 'I Have a Dream'?"

The stage was thus set not for dreams, but for a nightmare. In the end, an oracle and two married couples made all the difference. The oracle reminded the attendees of their shared values and retreated into darkness. The wives then spoke on successive nights, followed by their husbands. Each speech built subtly on its predecessor -- so that when the week ended and the confetti stopped falling, these were the only speeches that had mattered.

When it was over, you realized that Denver was a symphony in four movements. In classical form, an allegro was followed by an elegant minuet, a slow scherzo, and an intense, climatic rondo. Each movement was designed to stand on its own but also to combine elegantly with the others, drawing on common themes, common emotions, and common dreams. The final movement was a minor symphony of its own that astonished the audience and music lovers from both parties, leaving some grasping for words. More than one Republican commentator confessed that they had, however briefly, drunk the Democratic Kool-Aid.

The overall effect was stunning. We knew that Obama is a student of community organizer Saul Alinsky. It turns out he studied Mozart as well.

Ted Kennedy performed the opening benediction. A dying Senator, a heroic, legend of a man who watched each of his three older brothers die a violent death for their country, came to Denver to complete his brother's promise of 44 years ago and pass the torch to a new generation. It was an extraordinary moment and most who saw it understood that it could be Kennedy's last public appearance. I watched his speech with my 16 year old and realized that I had been 16 when I first met Ted Kennedy as a young Senator. I still have the autograph and remember the day his Senate committee confirmed me to public office many years later.

The overture fell to Michelle. Her job was to personalize and humanize her husband, to tell a story that would be retold thematically again and again. It was in many ways the standard speech by a wannabe First Lady -- but Michelle is very strong, very smart, and very eloquent. She connects quickly with every working mother of young kids. It didn't hurt that she appeared on Monday in a stunning dress by Chicago designer Maria Pinto that drew rave reviews and promptly sold out. (Michelle is now "Mickey O", after Teddy's late sister-in-law -- a high, if somewhat retro, compliment.) She did an outstanding job and follow-on surveys showed that Americans were seriously impressed. If you missed her talk, here it is. Or read it here.

The following night, Hillary blew out the lights with the finest speech of her career. Say what you will about mixed motives, she played big league ball, delivering a smart, full-throated and heartfelt endorsement that left many of her supporters in tears. I would guess that her performance sent Joe Biden scurrying to his speechwriter to make sure he kept the pace the following night. He didn't -- but it didn't matter). If you missed her  classic minuet, including her crack about "The Sisters of the Traveling Pantsuits", read it here or watch it below. By the end of her speech, the paradox was clear: Hillary Clinton is more powerful off the ticket than on it. If Obama is elected, he owes her big time and they both know it.

Wednesday night happened to be the centenary of the birth of Lyndon Johnson -- an event that went sadly uncelebrated, at least on TV. Bill never mentioned it in his scherzo.

Future generations will study Bill Clinton as a political genius with a gift for tarnishing his own star. He understood that this could be one of his last national prime time addresses -- one that would shape his legacy in the minds of millions. He knew that he needed to behave and play his part or further infuriate his supporters.

He put on his best face, walked the plank, and delivered the swan song of the House of Clinton. He made the best of it and then some. He knows something about running for President based on "change vs. more of the same" and there was more than a touch of his famous "place called Hope" 1992 acceptance speech worked into his talk. Read it here or watch it below.

The big night was tonight, Thursday. Obama decided to move his acceptance speech to Mile High Stadium, a Bird's Nest-sized beast that holds 80,000 people, leading the skeptics to charge "unrequited ego" and the campaign to respond "grass roots rally". The test was clear: could Obama fill the seats? Answer: easily.

Tonight's speech was brilliant -- worth watching or reading again. At one level, it was standard State of the Union fare: the other guy has made a mess of it, good people are suffering, and what is needed is the Democratic cure. You have heard variations on the speech many times. Astonishingly, the speech was watched by 38 million people -- more than viewed the Olympic opening ceremonies. At a time when viewing of convention coverage is declining, this is astonishing. The campaign would have been thrilled with numbers half that big.

Obama completed the symphony, moving between past, present, and future, intimacy and toughness, biography and platform, domestic and foreign, moral high ground and in-your-face challenges as effortlessly as any political speech I have seen. Of course he incorporated the standard melodies: hard luck and hard times, education and health care, restore the American dream (a tune lifted from Clinton's 1992 speech but integrated better). Yes, he touched the requisite political bases (thanking Hillary as "a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours" and using examples from states like Ohio and Georgia that the campaign has targeted). But he also exposed himself in a new way, being in turn personal, passionate, and convincing. His soaring conclusion was eloquent, as we all knew it would be, but it was also brief. Obama modified his voice slightly so that his references to Martin Luther King carried the crowd back to a hot August day at the Lincoln Memorial 45 years ago. He used the word "hope" only once -- when he quoted Martin Luther King, referred to only as "a preacher from Georgia".

It was a fine speech -- and Obama wrote it (unlike most public officials, he also writes his own books). IT showed evidence of a more complete, mature, and forceful candidate -- a man who could be in charge when the occasion demanded it. In many ways, Obama continues to grow before our eyes and the eyes of the world.

What a moment. Who could not recall that as King shared his dream, Americans of African ancestry could not even vote in many parts of the US, never mind run for office. Who could not watch in amazement as Americans celebrated King's most famous speech at the nomination of a talented black man to the highest office in the land by a major political party.

It was a milestone beyond the dream of Kings.