It doesn’t seem right to let the week go by without noting that Obama’s acceptance speech made me so proud to be a citizen of our country. I watched it with Robert from a Ravenswood television, eating Chicago pizza, and cheering. The next day, which was yesterday, I looked at everyone around me differently, on the train and on the streets. As if we were all agents of a collective force for change.

When I was in Vancouver in April, talking theater with another group of disgruntled artists, I was taken to task on the foreign policies of the Bush Administration, which is a little like taking candy from a baby. The only response I had to say was “I have a lot of hope for Obama.”

My Canadian theatrical interlocutor responded, “We all do, too,” which reminded me how many other nations have stakes in this election and in our politics.

That hope, which has grown as I’ve traveled around this country and heard people’s enthusiasm for him, and renewed sense of purpose, is now no more a dream. It’s a reality. We got him nominated, and now we can get him elected, and then we can get back to work. And not a moment too soon.

These words have been quoted everywhere words are quoted:

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America’s promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our “intellectual and moral strength.” Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can’t replace parents; that government can’t turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

And these:

These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America, they have served the United States of America.

The full text of his speech is here.

Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of Scripture, hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

From CNN: Feinstein waiting to hear from Clinton about superdelegate strategy.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a key supporter of Clinton’s White House bid, said Wednesday that the drawn-out race for the Democratic presidential nomination is producing “negative dividends in terms of strife within the party.”

She said she called Clinton two days ago but hasn’t heard back.

I find it very interesting to read all this stuff about the character of Indiana after spending February doing experimental theater there. I fell in love with the state, as I think everyone we brought in from out of town did – and especially with the honesty, integrity, and friendliness of the folks we worked with. And now it’s interesting to think of them deciding, in effect, the Democratic nomination. A tiebreaker, as Obama said today. A good metaphor for a sports-loving state.

I think what’s going to break that tie is a sense of character. Really. That’s what seemed to be the most important to everyone who I met in the state of Indiana. Character, family, community.
I felt like I understood the US much better, for better and for worse – but mostly for better – after my month there. I’m looking forward to returning to Indiana next February, and every February for the foreseeable future, for the Convergence. Of all the places I’ve stayed this year, Indiana felt like it had the most to do with home. That surprised me, but it’s true.

I really don’t believe that the Indiana citizens I met would vote against Obama because of his race. Not for a second. I also think that they are not going to be distracted by bad economic gas-tax gimmicks, or by the dead-horse political issue of Rev. Wright. I think they’re going to vote on a sense of who they respect – whose character, whose values (remember that word? maybe I should say whose ethics, whose political philosophy – but I think the Democrats should make a stab at reclaiming the word “values”) they admire.

From the Washington Post:
Brian Howey: Indiana does not have a lengthy history of minority representation. In our 192 year history, we’ve had three African-American mayors, all from Gary. We’ve elected two African-American sheriffs. We’ve elected three black Members of Congress and Katie Hall of Gary lost to Pete Visclosky after just one term (the third, Rep. Andre Carson, is fighting a tough primary to keep his grandmother’s seat). We’ve had two Hispanic mayors. Indiana has not elected a female governor, though the past two lieutenant governors have been female. So while we’ve had lots of minority city councilmen, there hasn’t been much congressional or executive power in black hands. An Obama victory would be historic.

Historic and timely. More Q and As with Brian here.

Brian Howey: […] The national media has sometimes portrayed us as a change resistant state. In the last three election cycles, Hoosier voters have tossed out an incumbent governor, three incumbent congressmen, the President of the Indiana Senate, the Senate Finance Chairman, the mayor of Indianapolis and about 40 percent of his incumbent brethren. We’ve switched to Daylight Saving Time. We can change and do change if someone can logically make the case for such change. If Obama wins Indiana, it will say volumes about our shift as a progressive state. By the way, Hoosiers helped invent the automobile, TV, 2 percent milk and tomato juice. The Bloody Mary wouldn’t exist without Hoosiers.

I have refrained from asking my Indiana Democrat friends who they are voting for in this primary. It’s none of my business. I am thinking of them a lot today, though, and wishing them luck in making this decision that the whole nation has had such a tough time with. Gentlemen, and ladies, cast your ballots.

NY Times article on Germany: “A brutal war of words has broken out between the two major parties here over violence committed by youths with immigrant backgrounds, and neither side is backing down.”