What do you think of the Democratic National Convention?

The Democratic National Convention wraps up Thursday night with a speech from presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama. What's your reaction to his address, and what impression did the convention leave overall?

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Absolutely incredible! The best speech I've heard. He had a lot riding on this, and I thought that there wasn't any way he could hit everything and make everyone happy, but holy hell did he deliver. Way way way waaaaaaay better than I could have imagined. Barack, congratulations on becoming the next president of the USA.

Very good oratory.  Very good delivery.  Same old tired liberal gonna save the world by throwing money at problems,   Same old gonna save the world by Robin Hood tactics.  Same old twisting others' quotes for political gain.  Nothing new here. 

If his grandfather struggled, and his mom struggled and he succeeded, why does he want to pay for the rest of America not to do as his family did? 

His view of how America should be is socialistic.  His formative years were spent with people who hate America and what we stand for.  His radical positions never came out last night.  He moved from the fringe left, crazy left to a more accepted liberal position. He portrayed a broken, sad America last night.  We are a thriving, proud country.  Listening to him, you'd think we should jump off a cliff due to the hopelessness we face.  Only his "Hope" and "Change" can fix what ails us.  Baloney.

This wasn't Obama.  It was made for TV Obama.  The real Obama has shown himself when not in front of the teleprompter.  He will again show himself again in the next two months.

But it was a good speech.

 He certainly had a long time to practice the speach.  Usually, he stammers worse than a typical white-haired person: "a..a...um...a...ummmm...a...ok...um...". 

 Everyone will forget this speech after he gets into a live debate or other public speaking forum (such as the one at Saddleback Church a few weeks ago).

 I think all conventions are a waste of money and just an excuse to party. Parading all the VIP's for their 15 minutes of fame when we have already had months worth of their political posturing to me is over the top. I didn't watch the DNC as I'm not at all interested in the Clintons and most of all Obama. He is an inexperienced candidate and should he win God help America.

I won't watch the Republican convention either as I am voting for John McCain and don't need to watch to know who is the best man.

 The entire convention was a theatrical masterpiece.  It culminated with a thoughtful, intelligent speech by a brilliant guy.  Historically, the country has been rather fearful of intellectuals but Obama is "soft around the edges" and might just convince the voters that brains and compassion are something we've not had for 8 years and that we are desperate for them.  His message is not "same old tired liberal ideas". The tired ideas are the fear-based, cowboy, yee-haw war ones.

I was glad to see a hard-hitting speech from a good guy and great leader. His message of change resonates with me. It was good to see that he pointed out that John McSame voted with Bush 90+% of the time making us question his judgement.

I'm tired of hearing that military experience makes a good president. Sen. Obama noted that McSame served his country well in the military. I disagreed with him on this point. McSame served his country poorly. He was captured. That's a sign of a bad soldier not a good one.

I lived in Virginia when Gov. L. Douglas Wilder was elected in an historic election. I was proud to have voted for him. I'll be proud to vote for Obama in this historic election. I know that this speech should give him a nice bump in the polls, but more importantly he'll get a nice bump in the one poll that counts in November.

You did not watch the DNC nor are you going to watch the republican convention. So, How do you know McCain is the best candidate if you are not engaging yourself in the issues...Oh that's right your are from Pittsburgh, All you need is to see the skin color and you know who is the right candidate. Please stay home election day, the rest of us need to change our country for the good.

Well said. My sentiments exactly. Don't need no stinking socialist liberals in my government. We got rid of Hilliary & Billary, and will do the same with this copy, too.

You did not watch the DNC nor are you going to watch the republican convention. So, How do you know McCain is the best candidate if you are not engaging yourself in the issues...Oh that's right your are from Pittsburgh, All you need is to see the skin color and you know who is the right candidate. Please stay home election day, the rest of us need to change our country for the good.

I am strongly for Obama. We need a drastic change in our policies. McCain more of the same. 

All of you McCain supporters, I hope you are healthy. Under the McCain plan anyone with a pre-existing condition is left-out. I hope all of you have a ton of money, under the McCain plan no more student loans for middle-class kids to go to college. That will help McCain foreign policy because the rest-of the world will just trample on us in Technology/Jobs/Growth.

Go ahead Pittsburgh pick a candidate based on skin color, see how well it goes for you when more jobs move out of western PA to China.

"Oh that's right your (sic) are from Pittsburgh, All you need is to see the skin color and you know who is the right candidate."

It should be noted for the record that I consider myself from Pittsburgh, but I actually live outside the city in Mt. Lebanon.

Also it should be noted that I'm a white male of German and Italian descent.

The reason I wrote that I was proud to vote for L. Douglas Wilder and I'll be proud to vote for Sen. Obama is that this country needs to break out of its mold and start to grow. I didn't vote for these two men because of skin color; I voted for them because they deserved it. The fact that they are African-American makes me proud because it shows that this country can move forward and break away from our racist past and go on to a better place.

 Let me quote John F. Kennedy: "...if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people - their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties..if that is what they mean by a "liberal" then I am proud to be a liberal."

I think the majority of us are tired of the conservative neocons, the cowboy diplomacy, the clown in the White House, the corporate welfare. Not to mention corruption in the Justice Department and the REP BLICAN obstruction in congress. During the past eight years we have seen our Constitution used as toilet paper by this administration, and Obama said in his speech enough.

We are liberals, patriots, and proud Americans. I served during the Vietnam conflict and I do not need John Mccain's petty snipes. Like McCain I am a war survivor.

Hesaidwhat uses the old Republican line describing us as socialists. No we are just like you, the only difference is we care more about our people.

•  Obama is all fluff, promises, and rhetoric and offers no solutions to our nation's problems.  Just as devious is the Democratic majority Congress who went on vacation rather than vote on off-shore drilling so that Obama would not have to take a stand on that issue until after the election in November.  I want a president who offers solutions to our problems that we are facing now, not in 10 years.  Honestly, do we think that President Bush single-handedly caused this economic crisis?  Everything we do, all laws, every war budget has to go through Congress.  Additionally, in order for the economy to take a tumble, it takes about 10 - 15 years.  Who was in office before President Bush?  Who left our nation unguarded and allowed those terrorists to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993?  Again, who ignored the information coming in about the terrorists a year before President Bush took office and allowed September 11th to occur?  The Clinton Administration.  Who did not permit us to drill in ANWAR in the 1990's? Clinton was too busy cheating on his wife and his wife was too busy traveling the world turning the other cheek.  We often hear comparisons of Obama with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Lincoln.  Why?  Very convenient and not even close comparisons if you know your American history.  Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of racial equality and Abraham Lincoln was not the great emancipator as most people believe.  That is the greatest myth of the Civil War.  He used black slaves against the South and never freed any under the Emancipation Proclamation.  At his great celebration of the Proclamation at the White House, Lincoln even went so far as barring black Americans from the White House.  The atrocities that Lincoln committed on the American people during the Civil War are many.  Some historians say that Lincoln was one of the worst presidents in American history.  Sometimes, the bigger the monuments, the bigger the myth.  So, by comparing himself to Lincoln, what is Obama trying to say?  Knowing my history, I interpret it as that he will do anything that he has to against the American people to get what HE wants done, even going so far as causing Civil War.  Two days after his first inauguration, Lincoln passed the Morrill Tariff raising the tariff rate to 36% on dutiable items and virtually stopping trade with Great Britain.  What will Obama do?  What's his hidden agenda?   As Americans, we forget Obama is of mixed racial background.   One minute he plays to white Americans to get their vote and the next minute he is off playing to African Americans to get their vote.  Folks, he is the convenient presidential candidate.  McCain is a veteran, has served our country in both government and in the military.  With him, at least, we know what he has our country's best interests at heart.    

 Who is talking skin color? ddicorcia, you claim that Pittsburgh will choose based on skin color, and you were the one to first bring it up. It sounds to me like you are choosing based on race -- which is a big mistake.

The Republicans are called racist if they support McCain because he's white -- but the Democrats are absolutely fine with the 90% of blacks voting for Obama because of race. Pretty ridiculous.

And about the speech. Hey, he's a good speaker and has can get a crowd moving. Only trouble is his words and beliefs sound more like Karl Marx or Mussolini. Hi diatribe of "we're going to change the world" is so over the top, and his goals of a global economy and society are just scary.

The rest of his words are empty and mean nothing to me. Tell me, what are we "changing" again? Are we changing the proven system of Capitalism and democracy? Are we changing the constitution and amendments that this country was founded on? Are we changing the rights and freedoms that we all enjoy. Mr. Obama has such a sordid view of this country that it's downright frightening.