The Democratic Party Convention; First Night

I'm am quite impressed with C-SPAN. I truly enjoyed myself. The uninterrupted coverage made me feel like I was there. C-SPAN has come a long way since I saw it last. It no longer has just a fixed camera, but very nice shots and a pure view of what was going on in the convention hall.

The coverage started at 5:00pm EDST and ended at 11:00. It showed the opening ceremonies, including the color guard from the Navajo Nation to one of the best band/orchestras I've heard in a long time. At first, I thought people were dancing to a recording of Aretha Franklin until the camera zoomed in on the singer. Even I was ready to have a cocktail and join in on the fun.

We got a chance to hear Barack's half sister speak, as well as Michelle's older brother. However, the real shocker and treat was Jesse Jackson, Jr. Mr. Jackson, as passionate as his famous father, was articulate and intriguing as he spoke to a very receptive crowd. I see a great future in the young politician

With each new segment, each with the wonderful and lively music, the hall continued to fill up. Once Mr. Joe Binden and his lovely wife and a rather toned down, incognito-esque Maria Shriver had entered the hall, Caroline Kennedy was introduced. Caroline talked about her "Uncle Teddy" and introduced the DNC's video tribute. After the video, Senator Kennedy was helped on stage and I must say, he looked better than I had thought he would. He may be very sick, but you couldn't tell it. His passion and vigor electrified the entire hall.

The highlight and grand finale was Michelle Obama's speech. She was extremely personable and passionate about her work, family and her husband. Her strength in all she does was very clear in this moving and motivation speech. After her speech, Barack appear via satellite from Kansas City, where he had watched his wife speak. Their two young daughters said hello to their Daddy and he wished them and the audience a very good night and that he would see all of them on Thursday Night.

Now and then, throughout the night, I switched very briefly to CNN to see what they were doing. I realized that they were on a 2-3 minute delay and talking/editorializing through all that was going on, including the speeches. They advertised that if you wanted to hear the speeches without commentary, you could go to CNN.com/politics and watch it on "your laptop." I guess CNN thinks the only computer anyone has is a laptop and that they are not duty-bound as journalists to show the convention "as is."

I'm sticking with C-SPAN for the duration of the Convention. As for the BBCAmerica coverage, they will only be showing the convention during the 10:00-11:00 time slot. I'm disappointed, but not surprised.