As originally published on More.com in the blog MORE from the Floor
You've gotta hand it to these guys. First there's Jennifer Hudson singing the national anthem, then they whip out Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow. With everyone rockin' in the aisles to recordings of Springsteen's "Born in the USA" and Diana Ross's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," I almost had to pinch myself--was I having a frat party flashback? Barack Obama said on Wednesday night that he wanted everyone to join the party--and it turns out he wasn't kidding. In fact, I found myself wondering: What was this guy like in college anyway? Maybe he really did inhale.
As helicopters hovered above Mile High Stadium like dragonflies with bright red eyes and sharpshooters were silhouetted above the gigantic video screens, Obama gave a huge metaphorical hug to American women in general and moms in particular. From his chubby baby pictures, which made everyone go "aww!", to his private photos of him and Michelle, to his shoutout to their daughters ("I love you so much and I'm so proud of you"), women were woven throughout the evening. I'll admit I actually teared up when he showed the photos of his mother, and said that the day she died was the worst of his life. (I guess you can tell I'm a sucker for son/mother love--because I know from my own life how special that love can be.) And then he talked about the grandmother who raised him, calling her one of his heroes. At the end when he went through his list of specifics--from ending our dependence on foreign oil to creating an army of teachers--he also threw out another promise to women: "equal pay for an equal day's work." I'd never heard him make that specific promise before and it made the audience roar with applause--which in that stadium sounds like thunder (and I wondered why the hot dogs they served were called "thunderdogs"). Barack and Joe Biden...both showed so much mother love. Will the MOTHERS of America love them back? We won't know until the first Tuesday of November.