A Personal Account of DNC ‘08

This morning, we have a guest post from Erika-Marie S. Geiss, who attended her first Democratic National Convention last week. She was kind enough to sum up her thoughts for us.

A Personal Account of DNC ‘08

by Erika-Marie S. Geiss, Editor-in-Chief of theWAHMmagazine

First, I have to thank Thursday Bram for having me as a guest blogger for One Vote Matters, which is one of my favorite political sites. In full disclosure, Thursday and I work together at theWAHMmagazine, where she is writes a regular business column in the bi-monthly magazine.  We’re also both members of Absolute Write (which after a blog comment blitz last year, she shared One Vote Matters with those of us participating when she first started it). After a series of tweets (Twitter messages) that I was sending “live and direct” from the convention, Thursday asked me to share my post-mortem thoughts about being at the DNC for the first time.

Exciting. Overwhelming. Surreal. Historic. Inspiring. Those are only five of the adjectives that describe my first Democratic National Convention last week in Denver. There are many more in fact, and it has taken a couple of days after returning to Michigan (and recovering from the jet lag that I never anticipated from a two-hour time change) to really parse and digest the experience.

For most of my life, I’ve been a Democrat. I grew up in a politically active Democratic family, and married into a political Democratic family. My husband is the Chair of our city Council, my father-in-law was Congressman William D. Ford’s chief of staff and once ran for Congress himself, and currently, my husband is the Democratic nominee for State Rep for our district in Michigan. He and I were traveling with the Michigan Delegation and Legislature although he was not a seated delegate for the convention.

We arrived in Denver late Sunday night, and despite our later flight, we encountered others heading from Michigan to the DNC including seated officials and members of the press. Monday, our tightly packed schedule started—with events for those travelling with the delegation during the day, the convention in the evening, and then post-convention events at night. Each day of the convention, we had to go from our hotel (in Broomfield, a suburb of Denver) to Denver to pick up our credentials for the day. Credentials were required to gain admittance to the Pepsi Center and INVESCO field on Thursday. We had Hall Credentials for the first and last days of the convention and Floor Credentials for the middle two days.

Having the opportunity to spend time with members of the legislature, labor leaders, business leaders and others that we met during the convention was enlightening and refreshing—and a reminder that for the most part, they are just like the people they serve. Watching the democratic process unfold up close was an experience that every American (regardless of party affiliation) should be able to witness, and one that was probable missed by those watching at home, unless they were glued to C-SPAN for the duration of the convention.  Excitement and unity were palpable in the halls (and on the grounds) of the Pepsi Center—we were all there for one shared purpose—to unite as democrats, despite the events that occurred throughout the campaign season, and rally behind Barack Obama and Joe Biden as our nominees for President and Vice President.

In retrospect, Monday, the theme seemed to be about family. From the speech given by Obama’s sister, to that given by his brother-in-law, to the remarkable tribute to and speech given by Senator Ted Kennedy and culminating with Michelle Obama’s speech. Michelle Obama’s speech could not have been more real, a reminder too that beyond the celebrity of the positions of being (the hopeful) president and First Lady, that they are no different than other Americans, and American families, especially once you get past the issue of race that too often serves to divide us. As a political wife and mother myself, I find her to be an important role model, and during her speech, I held fast to her words with every breath.  

Each speaker on the other nights spoke about the various issues that the nation is facing. For example, on Tuesday, Governor Schweitzer (D-Mont.) addressed energy issues. When Hillary Clinton spoke on Tuesday, her message was about putting any division and dissent in the party aside. With class and panache, she urged us (both at the convention and those watching at home) to stand firmly behind Obama as the Democratic nominee.  And among the enduring themes throughout the convention were that we don’t need another four years of the continued policies from the Bush administration—that McCain will be more of the same (as one of the chants went); that we must strive for energy independence; and that overall, we must protect American jobs, families and citizens. (Of course, if you were following OVM throughout the convention, you know all of this already because of the live blogging and tweets.)

As a witness to the DNC “live and direct,” a regular citizen, with no specific role in the convention, I was in awe at how orderly things were whether in the Pepsi Center or roaming about Denver. There were only two incidents that I saw where the Denver police had to assemble in full SWAT gear to keep things in check because of rambunctious protesters. The organizational machine for the convention was also well-tuned, with three security checkpoints to gain admittance for those on foot. (Officials, dignitaries and heads of state were transported in hybrid GM SUVs and had a separate entrance.) There was only one snag in the machine, when on Tuesday more Floor credentials were apparently given out than fire codes permitted and the Fire Marshall had to close the Floor to additional people trying to get in. (The good thing was that Floor credentials gave you admittance to the other areas in the Pepsi Center, so it’s not as if those people were completely out of luck.) DNC volunteers handed out signs (Michelle, Hillary, The Change, Obama, Unity and others) and American flags just before the key speakers of each evening. (I still find it ironic that at an event with such tight security that we were given flags on long, pointy sticks, but thankfully, there weren’t any incidents.) Amidst the official business of the DNC proceedings, there was some humor in the phenomenon of daily convention aftermath. I thought I was prepared, knowing to wear flats for walking and carry heels in my bag to switch into once at our destination, but the real veterans, knew to bring garbage bags—yes, garbage bags. Once the final benediction was given, signaling the end of business for the day, the feeding frenzy occurred for discarded convention signs. There were people literally climbing over chairs to get extra signs to take back home as souvenirs, while the major stations carrying the events made their post-event commentary and roaming film crews sought subjects to interview, all somehow managing to not capture the sign scavengers.  

I’ve returned fired up and even more inspired—hopeful even, and not just for the presidential campaign, but for my husband’s campaign as well. And now that I’ve had my initiation to DNCs, so to speak, I’m looking forward to DNC ‘12, which will probably be my son’s first DNC—who knows, maybe he’ll be guest blogging about his perspective as a six-year-old then.