Barack Taking Acceptance Speech to the People

In what is a great move at least symbolically, Democratic Presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama has announced that he's taking his acceptance speech out of the convention arena and into an outdoor stadium that seats 75,000. That's a gutsy move given that there's no guarantee there won't be a lot of empty seats in that place that will make him look bad.

But you gotta know that a ton of people will want to be there for the event if they can get there.

The symbolism is brilliant. Every Presidential nominee in the past has accepted the nomination in front of the convention that offered it, where only party insiders and activists can go. In a sense, the acceptance speech was a way of paying homage to the party leaders. This makes a clear statement that he owes this nomination not to the partiati but to the people of America.

I don't like some of his shifts to the center of late but I have to say, this guy is a master of political theater, better than any Democrat in at least 45 years.