Michael B. Duff

I’ll leave the hardcore analysis to Freda and Donald, but as a long time blogger and recovering policy wonk, I wanted to throw a quick reaction to this speech on Lubbock Online, just so you know we’re paying attention.

I won’t pretend to be any kind of objective reporter here, but my personal ideology is so bizarre, I don’t really have a dog in this fight. Being utterly disillusioned with the process is not the same as being objective, but for our purposes tonight, I hope it’s the next best thing.

In fact, with so many members of my peer group off the fence and in the tank for Obama, I may be the last cynic left on Earth. For years I’ve watched my friends mope around and whine about how stupid elections are. Now suddenly Obama’s made it cool to care about politics, and they’re walking around like characters from a Capra film — sporting campaign buttons and big goofy grins.

Rachel Sklar actually used the phrase “Happy days are here again” in a video yesterday. There’s something unseemly about watching Generation X wake up and try to believe in something. My people were not built for optimism. There’s something mildly creepy about it, watching this uncomplicated and decidedly unironic outpouring of love for a politician.

We were taught to distrust and sneer at authority, dammit! Not to roll over and sigh at the first sign of a candidate who can form coherent sentences.

Obama brought it home, but let’s face it, his supporters are so in love with him, all he had to do was come on stage without tripping over himself and they’d call it a win.

And by the same token, his opponents are so inflamed I suspect Obama’s appeals to patriotism will be ignored.

I was impressed with the fairness and decency of both candidates tonight. McCain ran an extraordinary ad congratulating Obama and acknowledging his place in history. He played it utterly straight, with no cheap shots or veiled attacks thrown in.
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I really should be sleeping. Instead I’m up late adding dubious celebrities to my Twitter account.

There are some incredibly smart and funny projects happening at the DNC this year, and the best stuff is actually on Twitter. I’m a fan of anamariecox of course, but the best writing so far is actually from Slate magazine.

For any newspaper people who can still stand to read me, this is how you liveblog a political event. Slate basically turned their writers loose and let them be funny.

The Twitter stuff brings a wonderful sense of fun and immediacy to the process. I mean, where else can you get video of Ana Marie Cox and Rachel Sklar making cupcakes that resemble major figures in the Democratic Party?

Notice in this video, Rachel actually says, “Happy days are here again!” completely without irony, as she sprinkles confetti on a cupcake.

Do you think the Fox News people will film themselves eating cupcakes at McCain’s convention? And while I’m up late asking difficult questions, why don’t my Senior Contributing Editors look like this?

Maybe the answer will come to me in a dream.

DISCLAIMER: And yes, before anyone points it out, I realize I have just referred to some of the finest political journalists of my generation as “cute girls.” Please understand, this language is not intended as an insult or as any kind of disrespect. Our market research has shown that I will get 30 percent more hits on this post if I use language like this. The ladies in question are all familiar with hardcore blog sweatshops, so even if they don’t condone my language, I’m sure they will understand it.

And for those 30 percent of you who would not have clicked on this post if I had used the words “Eminent female journalists,” please take a moment and feel ashamed of yourselves.