I watched the entire Obama speech at the Democratic Convention.

Though the audience was rapt, it wasn’t the most inspiring performance I’ve seen. Seems he’s decided to mute his “usual high-level rhetoric in favour of a more down-to-earth approach”.

Senator Obama directly confronted the charge that his popularity is merely that of an insubstantial celebrity. He reminded his audience of his early life, of being raised by a single mother who once resorted to food stamps, and by a grandmother who scrimped on clothes to support him and added: “I don’t know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead but this has been mine.”

I’m not sure he can “change” the USA. I hope so.

I’d love to see him try. He’s certainly the most exciting statesman I’ve seen in my lifetime. Better than a young Trudeau. Better than a young Bill Clinton.

While Senator Obama made few references to the historic nature of the night, it was underscored by other speakers, including the son and daughter of Martin Luther King who celebrated the nomination on the 45th anniversary of King’s “I have a dream” speech, delivered at the Lincoln Monument in 1963 before 250,000 people.