Even Infomercials Can Have Great Moments

Our first lady, Michelle Obama, at the Democratic Convention, giving one of the best speeches of recent years.

It can be very infuriating, sometimes, to lean towards the side of the Democratic Party.  As a genuine progressive, their half steps and compromises can sometimes seem exasperating, constantly giving in where they do not need to. The party is of such a big tent nature that it includes very conservative members like Sen. Ben Nelson or Sen. Max Baucus, and these blue dogs drag progress out.  There are also those who sometimes seem more anxious to serve core liberal constituency groups than they are to solve problems for the betterment of the country.

But then someone with the dynamic, quiet strength of First Lady Michelle Obama comes along, and it helps crystallize why I identify so much more with this party than I do the other.  Her rhetorical skills, her caring, common sense approach, her love of family and this country shine through in everything she does.  It rips to shreds the complete lies and fabrications told by the opposition about the first family.

Here is the true American story.  Not in the story of second generation wealth, of those building their careers on wealthy family connections and manipulating the system to serve themselves, but in climbing the rungs of the American dream using one's intelligence and merit.  And yes, the use of government programs where necessary to help launch equality of opportunity.

There are so many great moments in this speech, so much that makes me proud to be an American and a progressive, but let me end with these two paragraphs quoted directly from her speech:

If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire...if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores...if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote...if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time...if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream...and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love...then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream.

Because in the end, more than anything else, that is the story of this country – the story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding struggle.