I arrived late Monday night, which meant I missed that day’s non-festivities. Just as well.
Today started out muggy and hot and soon turned gray and limpid, with drizzly rain and gusts of wind dotting downtown St. Paul. If it weren’t for the clusters of National Guard and police on corners surrounding the Xcel Center, you’d have no clue that thousands of people were in town to nominate the Republican candidate for president of the United States. The Xcel Center fills the window of the apartment where I am staying, yet I watched the proceedings on TV. They might as well have been a million miles away.
Missed our coverage of last week’s Democratic National Convention? Check out our 30+ posts by clicking HERE. Or just click the tag “P+P@The DNC” on any related post, or in the Tag Cloud in the sidebar.
Managing Editor Tricia Romano is on the ground as of Monday in St. Paul for the Republican convention, so be sure to look for her observations on the event throughout the course of the next several days.
Photography by Chris Nelson – click on slideshow to view larger images
DENVER — “I’ll be gone ‘til November,” sang Haitian national and former Fugees member, Wyclef Jean, softly crooning the lyric to one of his most popular songs —as he has at many concerts before last night.
But then a pause: “And why is November so important?” And with that simple question, the mostly young and raucous crowd roared back a response, shouts of “Obama!” mixed in with exuberant acknowledgment of what is at stake in the political world for young Democrats.
With a rousing blend of political activism and musical mastery, Wyclef Jean brought the house down at local bar, Theorie, in front of revelers that included Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr., but who were mostly young, ethnic, and all on the same partisan page.
Aside from providing an astoundingly good musical experience, the palpable energy between performer and party-goers proved that unity of thought among today’s young liberals comes easier than within the Democratic Party itself, as Wyclef himself has noted and tried to change.
White, black, Latino…everyone jumped up on stage at the end as Wyclef climbed the speaker stack and wrapped the show with a twenty plus jam session, chanting Obama and whipping the crowd into a frenzy over and over again with alternating tempos before finally walking out the front door.
It was the singular event of the weekend thus far in terms of raw energy. 2012 Host Committee: take note.
