"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

On Thursday, 28 August 2008, 75,000 people personally attended Mile High Stadium to hear a man in an arena deliver what has been called "The greatest convention speech of all time." The commentator was Patrick Buchanan, a conservative, but not a fool. Of course the reactionaries were quick to make mocking and critical comments even though their remarks revealed more about themselves than either the speech or the speaker.

For those of us who are Democrats, now is the time to truly listen to the words, the tenor, and the tone of our nominee. It should not only be the Kennedy Family who hears the echoes of fallen Democratic heroes. Once upon a time, the Democratic Party was the party of idealism, the party of the future, the party of America as it might and ought to be.

That time has come again. As the last of the heroic Kennedy brothers declared, "The work begins anew, "the hope rises again and the dream lives on." Breathes there a Democrat with soul so dead that they never to themselves have said, This is my home, my native land?

Barack Obama did not merely accept our party's nomination for the Presidency of the United States on Thursday evening. Barack Obama brought us back to our home, our native land. He summoned the mystic chords of memory which will swell the rising chorus of unity as they touch as surely they will the better angels of our nature.

With all due gratitude and honor to Senator Clinton, President Clinton and Vice-President Gore, with resounding praise for Michelle Obama and profound confidence and enthusiasm for Senator Biden, let us once and for all unite behind the leadership of Barack Obama and "With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own." Let us do whatever it takes to help America "rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed." Let us finally make good on the pledge that America is "one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

It is as true now as it was long ago: "We are bound in honor to refuse to listen to those men who would make us desist from the effort to do away with the inequality which means injustice; the inequality of right, opportunity, of privilege. We are bound in honor to strive to bring ever nearer the day when, as far is humanly possible, we shall be able to realize the ideal that each man shall have an equal opportunity to show the stuff that is in him by the way in which he renders service." As Barack truly declared, This campaign has never been about him; it is about us and what kind of citizens we will ultimately prove to be. Now is our moment to keep our bond of honor and prove we are citizens of the highest caliber.