Feels Like Home Again

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August 30, 3:47 PM

by Mike Wolf, Denver Democratic National Convention Examiner

 

Ever have the feeling you're being watched?
(photo www.media.modbee.com)

From "Feels Like Home" off Randy Newman's new album Harps and Angels.

My car was broken into after the DNC.  Pennies spilled out over the dash, my registration papers strewn about the front seat.  But they didn't take much.  They seemed to be desperately looking for something that was not there, lost in the chaos that is my front seat.  I've been there.

I was laid off the day after the DNC, a harsh reminder that any hope gleaned from Obama's speech must be borne out under a very large umbrella.  A reminder that times are tough no matter what change could be coming around the bend.  But I don't want to bum you out, harsh your mellow, or kill your buzz from this past week. 

So let's go back a few days:

You could see a tired, worn out Denver all over Mayor Hickenlooper's face.  It was Thursday night, merely two hours since Barack Obama had belted his home run acceptance speech, and the Mayor was soaking in the afterglow.  In the friendly atmosphere of the House Hick Built, the Wynkoop Brewery, patrons beamed with the light of a thousand fireworks and the Obamanator streamed out from the well-worn taps.  Hickenlooper was weary but happy, drained but hopeful, relieved but clearly excited.  For the Obama campaign was leaving the station and the DNC in Denver was done. 

The convention was clearly a success, even if our cigar chomping cops couldn't keep it in their pants for a few days.  The puzzling arrest on Wednesday of an ABC news reporter outside the Brown Palace proved to be the most embarrassing moment of the convention.  There were plenty of skirmishes between police and protesters but Recreate '68 they did not.

Overall, the city was presented in a sunny (though wildfire-induced) hazy, glowing light throughout the week.  16th Street Mall provided the best spot for people watching, showcasing a long stretch of downtown often overlooked by locals.

Politically the convention was a big Kum Buy Yah for the Democrats.  The Clintons complied, Joe Biden abided and Barack Obama made strides in the effort to hone his ideas of change and outline the details of his mystical message of hope.

Now all is quiet once again, as the city puffs out its chest and waves like a proud father to the circus as it leaves town.  

Congrats Denver, Queen City of the Plains, may your crown shine on, may your legacy be:

You throw one hell of a party.

And to close, we look to the words of Robert Frost's Build Soil, as delivered at Columbia University before the contentious National party conventions of 1932:

Steal away the song says.
Steal away and stay away.
Don't join too many gangs. Join few if any.
Join the United States and join the family -
But not much in between unless a college.
Is it a bargain, Shepherd Meliboeus?

Probably, but you're far too fast and strong
For my mind to keep working in your presence.
I can tell better after I get home,
Better a month from now when cutting posts
or mending fence it all comes back to me
What I was thinking when you interrupted
My life-train logic. I agree with you
We're too unseparate. And going home
From company means coming to our senses.

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