WOW!

Watching that speech tonight, I can only marvel at the difference between a professional who is merely competent and one who is truly inspired. As the GOP tries to figure out over the next few days precisely how to build a convention on mocking and otherwise disrespecting Barack Obama, consider this analogy: it would be a lot like a gang of crooks trying to figure out how to steal a masterpiece from a museum. The word "ugly" wouldn't seem strong enough to capture such a strategy. Slimy? Closer, but no. Unholy? OK. That works for me.

I can hope, I can pray, that the GOP Convention takes the high road as much as the Convention we've just witnessed. (Remember all the pundits whining that there wasn't enough "red meat"?) But something tells me that prayer won't be answered.

No matter. I don't think Karl Rove and his troglodyte tactics can bring down Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Al Gore, John Kerry ... and tens of millions of Americans who want honest to God change and are now willing to work together. Yeah, I acknowledge that there are a lot of well meaning, intelligent conservatives who prefer the GOP. And I know that there are a lot of other not-so-well-meaning racists who will never vote for Barack because of his skin. But that coalition just doesn't seem large enough to prevail. Barack is the future. Strike that, Barack is the present. And Americans, at the end of the day, usually rally around a winner.

No matter what happens in November, Barack Obama is a winner.