…This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never give up. How do we give this country back to them?

By following the example of a brave New Yorker , a woman who risked her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad. And on that path to freedom, Harriett Tubman had one piece of advice: If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If they’re shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. — Hillary Clinton in her address to the Democratic National Convention

The message was meant to draw inspiration from the struggle for women’s rights and that of all Americans who persevere against the odds, but somehow Hillary Clinton’s words sounded almost like she was sending a coded message to all her PUMA gals: I have to play nice like a good Democrat, but you don’t. Keep going!

Call me cynical. I know that Hillary’s speech hit a lot of the right notes. She said to her supporters that if they believe in and support the issues she ran for, then vote for Barack Obama, and this time it didn’t look like it pained her to do so. That’s because she gave a speech she could deliver with conviction, the core message of which was: Vote for Barack Obama, because he’s a Democrat and he’s not John McCain. 

Based on the strength of her delivery, her speech was effective in getting most people to believe that she did all she could do to support the nominee. But she clearly did not offer a ringing endorsement of the candidate, and I can’t help but wonder what her real agenda is. Once she got to quoting Harriet Tubman—arguably the strongest female figure of the 19th century, the woman who sang spirituals to deliver coded messages and supposedly once threatened to kill a slave who was too frightened to continue a mission to freedom—it sort of felt like the other shoe was about to drop right on top of that oft-mentioned cracked glass ceiling and send 18 million jagged little shards raining on Barack Obama’s head.

Wednesday is the roll call vote, and Clinton’s name will be placed in nomination to honor her supporters and her historic candidacy. Some Obama supporters are grumbling about this, but it has been done before, with, for example, Jesse Jackson and Shirley Chisholm. But this time doesn’t feel like Hillary’s folks will be happy with a symbolic nomination that will celebrate and honor her achievements.

These women are angry, and they’re going to let everyone know it. There has been some rumbling around the convention and during Tuesday’s Women’s Caucus that many Hillary supporters are trying to get all of her delegates to vote for her during the roll call, rather than stick with an agreed-upon plan to end with New York’s delegates. On Tuesday I overheard one unidentified delegate’s phone conversation in which he apparently shot down someone’s request for him to vote for Hillary: “There are going to be two presidential candidates in this race: John McCain and Barack Obama,” he said. ”I’m not throwing my vote away on a symbolic gesture.” So they’re apparently still trying.

The irony is that if women are really equal, then we need to accept that we can compete and lose just like the next guy, and then keep it moving. Yelling that the other guy didn’t play fair and demanding special consideration of your runner-up status sounds like you really weren’t ready to get in the game. Like the little girl on the playground who begs to play with the big boys, despite the warnings that she might get hurt. Once she does get hurt and starts crying, she expects the boys to stop playing and tend to her. They didn’t want her there in the first place, and now she’s messing up their game ’cause they gotta deal with her.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m all for putting a woman in the White House. Just picture it: a woman president of the U.S., along with other heads of state like Germany’s Angela Merkel, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, and Michelle Bachelet of Chile. Once that wave starts really taking off, we could really begin to change the world. But let’s not be wusses about it—if you’re ready to play, be ready to lose. Even if you think it’s wrong. Even if you think the game was rigged. That’s something women can learn from men, who have learned this lesson from a lifetime of playing sports. Sometimes the other side doesn’t play fair. Sometimes the officials are biased. Sometimes the rules are broken, and you lose. Oh well. Life goes on. Just ask Al Gore, John Kerry, or Michael Dukakis.

Maybe I’m overanalyzing this. After all, for all of their noise, there aren’t but so many PUMAs out there.  And HIllary is very clear about what role she needs to play now for the good of the party and more importantly, her role in it.  But the message she’s giving her most diehard supporters the quiet cue that if they’re not ready to come on board, that’s just fine with her. And that undercuts the ultimate objective of the convention: to rally the party behind one candidate and devise a plan for his victory in November.  

In yesterday’s blog I wrote that in her speech, Michelle Obama brought out her husband’s “Teddy Bear side.” Well, apparently the Vermont Teddy Bear Company had been thinking the same thing. Today I received an e-mail from the company announcing that its specially designed Obama Bears ($109.95) are on the scene in Denver, and that, according to a Democratic National Convention Committee representative, “The Bears arrived in true Obama style. They had their sleeves rolled up and were ready to work hard.” Sounds kinda like what I said yesterday.

To be fair, the company also has McCain Teddy Bears, though they’re still awaiting their ticket to the Republican convention in Minneapolis next month.

Perhaps for all the obvious reasons, African-Americans have been better represented at this year’s Democratic National Convention America than ever before. The word is that 23% of all delegates this year are African-American, well exceeding our 13% of the general population. 

But what is also striking is the way we’re represented on the podium during this convention. The largely non-televised portion of convention activities begins at 3 p.m. (MDT), well before prime-time coverage, and during this time we’ve seen folks from John Legend performing with the Agape Choir from Culver City, California’s International Spiritual Center, to relatively new faces on the national political scene, like New York Governor David Paterson, the country’s first legally blind governor who spoke of the issues facing Americans with disabilities. Good thing he wasn’t passed over this time, like he was at yesterday’s New York Caucus breakfast. (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/25/oops-they-forgot-paterson/)

Michigan Congressman John Conyers led the Congressional Black Caucus in a moving memorial tribute to the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio who died just last week after suffering an aneurysm. And D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton spoke about “the nation’s oldest unresolved human rights issue”—D.C.’s lack of a voting member of Congress and the need to pass the D.C. Voting Rights Act, which passed in the House but came up three votes short in the Senate. 

David Paterson (photo by David Shankbone)

“He’s the same man who drove me and our new baby daughter home from the hospital 10 years ago this summer, inching along at a snail’s pace, peering anxiously at us in the rearview mirror, feeling the whole weight of her future in his hands, determined to give her everything he’d struggled so hard for himself, determined to give her what he never had: the affirming embrace of a father’s love.” —Michelle Obama, in her address to the Democratic National Convention

In a beautifully crafted message to America, Michelle Obama did more on Monday night to humanize Barack Obama than had been done in the past 19 months of the campaign. Now, mind you, I’ve never bought into the exotic/out-of-touch/elitist label that naysayers on the right—and many members of the media—have pinned on the presumptive nominee. And no, I don’t necessarily buy into the idea that the elitist label is code for the loaded “uppity,” either. The unfair expectation that every presidential candidate has to be up for a touchy-feely lovefest has dogged every Democratic nominee since Bill Clinton. Just ask Al Gore and John Kerry.

But to be honest, Barack Obama is no Bill Clinton when it comes to “feeling your pain.” He seems more likely to understand your pain. He’ll want to identify the source of your pain and inspire you to get to work on fixing your pain and even bring policy measures to bear on the problem. But feeling it? Not so much. And apparently, the ideal model of the American president is that of a big brother who loves and dotes on his little siblings so much that if the schoolyard bully even thinks about bothering them, he’ll beat him to a pulp. Something like a cross between a teddy bear and a piranha.

Tonight, Michelle not only represented herself with her usual eloquence and grace, but she showed us Obama’s teddy bear side. Many of the television talking heads spoke of how black women in particular listened to her speech with tears in their eyes, swelling with pride over the vision of a black woman poised to serve as the country’s first African-American First Lady. And it’s true—the sight is pretty mind-boggling. But just as affecting and effective was the sincere loving way in which she spoke of her husband and the father of her two daughters.

I spotted (Oprah’s best friend) Gayle King in the arena before Michelle Obama’s speech this evening. Gayle had interviewed Michelle in advance of her opening night address on XM satellite radio’s The Gayle King Show, and during the interview she was particularly struck by this comment by Michelle Obama: “The one thing that I can tell people is, Barack has not disappointed me once in the 20 years or more that I’ve known him. Not once. And that’s the only reason why I can be sitting here.” The love and devotion that they share was clear tonight. It’s built on mutual respect, admiration, and a fierce determination to protect their union. In these days of fractured black male/female relationships, that alone is a wonder. But if that isn’t enough, the totally unscripted reaction of daughters Malia and Sasha shouting “Hi Daddy! What city are you in?” when they saw their father on the monitor brought the message home. It was a picture perfect all-American family, with Barack Obama as doting husband and father, looking more human than we’ve ever seen him.

Now if only someone can help him summon up his inner piranha, he just might have a chance. Oh wait—Wednesday night, vice-presidential pick Joe Biden offers his address.

The official kickoff of the Democratic National Convention isn’t until Monday, but folks out here in Denver definitely know how to get the party going. I arrived in the Mile High City on Saturday, ready to hit the big media party in which the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee welcomed more than 10,000 journalists and bloggers for a “Celebration with Altitude!” at Elitch Gardens Amusement Park. I suppose the thin air (and jet lag) must have gotten to me, because I conked out as soon as I hit my hotel room. But with that many in attendance, I’m guessing they didn’t miss me.

You can’t keep a good woman down though, (especially one who brought several new pairs of very cute but sensible shoes just for this occasion) so after a good night’s rest, I was ready to begin doing what I came here to do: bring you the sights and sounds of the most historic Democratic Convention this country has seen. I hit the ground running with my two aces in the hole—my brother-in-law Sterling Henry Jr., who has served as an advance man for too many presidential candidates and holders and seekers of other political offices to mention, and his boy Charles Snow, a staffer for the DNC office in DC who has done the same. If you’ve never traveled with an advance team, it’s kind of like having your own personal assistant scope everything out for you before you make a move. Plus, these guys know every trick in the book when it comes to getting into events. It’s a nice way to navigate something as huge as the DNC.

My first stop on Sunday was the All-Delegate Celebration Recognizing Katrina Relief Organizations. Ordinarily each state’s delegation has its own party, but this year everyone joined together for this worthy cause. Of course, Louisiana was represented well, both in the cuisine — red beans and rice, seafood gumbo, and Crawfish Monica — and in the music, which headlined Dr. John.

The highlight of the evening, however, was the “Soulfare Celebrating the Success of the Civil Rights Movement,” an event presented by the African American Committee 2000 and Beyond. The program, co-chaired by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, talk show host Tavis Smiley, Jackie Jackson (wife of Jesse Jackson) and Daniel Halpern, and MC’d by Danny Glover, honored nine civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Rainbow Push Coalition, and the Urban League. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who accepted the award honoring the National Action Network, brought the crowd to its feet when he spoke about how civil rights activists paved the way for Barack Obama to win the nomination of a major political party. Still, I had to wonder about the conspicuous absence of Jesse Jackson, considering his wife, daughter Santita, and son Jonathan were all there.

By the time the headliner of the evening, Frankie Beverly and Maze, had hit the stage, however, those thoughts had all but vanished. I and the rest of the audience rocked it out to songs like “Southern Girls” and “Can’t Get Over You” before I had to turn in for the night. Yeah, ironically I had to leave before he performed “Before I Let You Go,” but there’s a whole lot of convention left, and I’m not going anywhere just yet.

“America, this is our moment. This is our time, our time to turn the page on the policies of the past, our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face, our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.” — Senator Barack Obama, Presumptive Nominee of the Democratic Party

Turn the page. Bring new energy and new ideas. Offer a new direction.

That pretty much sums up what voters obviously wanted their Democratic candidate to do. That’s why they decided—in an unprecedented, gutsy, and breathtaking move—that Barack Obama was the one.

Knowing full well the sheer audacity of such a choice, they, and hundreds of superdelegates, made the decision anyway. Like the band of patriots who called for the formation of a more perfect union in Philadelphia, the greatest generation who conquered fear and liberated a continent, and the children who braved the bridge in Selma for freedom’s cause—all the people whose stories and the lofty ideals that Senator Obama often invokes to remind us how good folks can prevail against difficult odds and seemingly impossible challenges—American voters and the Democratic leadership chose Barack Obama.

Half-Kenyan, Arabic-named, crazy-Black-reverend-having, childhood-in-Indonesia, non-bowling, organic-tea-drinking Barack Obama.

Clearly, folks are looking for a damn-near revolution.

It seems that Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, historic in its own right, was overshadowed by the fact that hers was an attempt at the number four position in a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton presidential dynastic relay. Not exactly a mandate on change.

So despite the urgent pleas and dire prognostications from the likes of BET founder Bob Johnson that Democratic party unity hinges on an Obama-Clinton ticket, it’s apparent that such a proposal underestimates the kind of political transformation that the growing coalition of Obama voters seek.

The change that they seek doesn’t include negotiating VP nods in some cigar-filled DC back room. It can’t be struck in a compromise that smacks of same-old Washington politics. The audacity of a Barack Obama nomination begs the boldness that rejects the convenience of political expediency.

But let’s not even get too far off on that track. This moment is not meant for endless hand-wringing over “What Hillary wants.” Or questions of whether Hillary will land a spot on the ticket. Or even whether or when she will concede the race or endorse Obama.

This moment is for celebrating the nearly 18 million Americans who fearlessly turned the page on America’s history and set this country in a decidedly new direction. Let us all, at least for a moment, celebrate what that really means. 

What a week to start a political blog.

After a mind-numbing Democratic primary process in which the front-runners slogged it out to within an inch of their political lives, finally here we are: waiting for primary season to end with those two all-important states, South Dakota and Montana. I suspect folks in Pierre haven’t been this fired up since Rockapella forgot to mention them in their song “Capital.” To complicate matters, it appears that this nomination won’t be wrapped up via election results—in an overt display of backroom power brokering, it’s the superdelegates who will decide who the Dems’ nominee will be. That’s to say nothing of the myriad subcommittees of the Democratic National Committee that may end up playing a role if the party can’t get its act together.

Party Lines will attempt to make sense of not only this election, but others to come—as well as the candidates, public officials, legislation, and overall political zaniness that any well-informed citizen ought to understand—by examining the statements that characterize them. What exactly did Clinton adviser Harold Ickes mean last Saturday, when he said to the DNC’s Rules Committee, “Mrs. Clinton has told me to reserve her right to take this to the Credentials Committee,” after the compromise to seat Florida’s and Michigan’s delegates? I’ll spare you the long analysis on that one, but suffice it to say that the lady in the pantsuit ain’t ready to put the Chadwick’s catalog away just yet—at least not before making a few Obama supporters sweat like they were wearing poly blend too.