Wow – just wow

Last night left me exhausted and humbled and invigorated.

If you have not seen the early hour, if you just tuned in for Joe, and Tim, and the President go back and find the earlier part of the evening.  On Tuesday night we saw the mothers of the movement. Mothers who children were lost simply because they were people of color. Last night we saw the parents and children of the plea to stop gun violence. I was weeping. I’ve done that a lot this week. I’ve wept with joy and I’ve wept in sorrow.

A mother lost a son last month, in a massacre that the Republicans held a moment of silence for. It was a massacre that would have been far less had we acted when 26 died in a school called Sandy Hook. When will people understand that having weapons that can kill 30 people in a minute when it takes 5 minutes for a church bell to ring 49 times is so twisted and wrong. When the founders brought forth this great nation they had muskets not weapons that can kill 30 people in a minute or more. They imagined a well ordered militia not men in the streets with weapons of war. That the protection of the 2nd amendment has become an obsession with allowing every weapon imaginable because they are afraid that the black man will take their guns. That is blunt but that has been what the 8 years is about. It’s what Trump is about.

After that unnecessary emotional appeal – unnecessary because these gun deaths are not necessary. As a nation we should have the courage to end it. After that we had the business case for Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump. of course, the right will call one billionaire establishment and the other not. It is the insanity of this race.

After that we had the testimonials from national security experts. There is one part of the conservative Republican mainstream that is putting country over Party it seems. National security experts are willing to admit that this is not a joke. Most of the rest of the Republican Party has capitulated to the horror of Trump. They will twist themselves into knots to justify whatever Trump does. When Leon Panetta came to speak about the danger of Trump there was a group at the convention, which includes someone that I know I am almost ashamed to say, decided that that was their chance to chant against war. It is such a mistake. When you fight your friends and a message that the country needs to hear it does nothing for anyone. The headline of Panetta’s speech will not be that Donald Trump is very dangerous to the country and that his actions yesterday bordered on treason. That a foreign country is actively interfering in our elections is an important message that the country needed to hear. These chances don’t come back and Donald Trump is not going to make things better. In 2000, people objected to the two party system and got us George Bush and the  wars that these people are protesting. This year they are trying to repeat that feat. We can’t let it happen. Change can happen but it has to happen from the local races up and not from the Presidency down. The President can’t do it all and we need to recognize that. We also, and I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, have to recognize that the Republicans are the problem. This is not an equal issue. The Republicans deny facts and they  go further and further every year to keep the lies they have told afloat.

When we got to the headliners it was magic.

Joe Biden is a national treasure. My mum died of Pancreatic Cancer and his moon shot is personal to me and I was so jealous of him when he said that he had come to the point where he could laugh more than cry when he thought of Beau. He got there before me and even now I want my mum here to celebrate this moment with me. He’s going to make it so more moms are with their daughter longer and the other way around. Hillary will make sure that he has the money to do that. She’ll also help with gun violence so parents and children don’t suffer from gun violence they way we do now. If anything else was taking 33,000 lives a year, 90 people a day, it would be a national mission the way the moon shot is. Gun violence is such the easier problem to solve.

Without actually saying the words, our Joe, Uncle Joe said what women around the country and around the world needed to hear. This is a big f**ing deal. It was his hot mic moment when we got the affordable  care act and it was what we needed to hear last night. As women we aren’t supposed to acknowledge a woman’s first because we should just look at qualifications. We do. She is the most or one of the most qualified people to ever run. Of course we are used to that. We are often the most qualified but we still don’t get the title or the pay. It’s so important to recognize that. Joe gave us that.

Then our new VP, I hope, spoke. He didn’t quite compete with the act he followed or the one that followed him but I like him far more than I expected to. I was an Elizabeth Warren hopeful, I wanted that all female ticket but I also know that Elizabeth will be such a force in the Senate. She could be majority leader some day and Cory Booker could be President. I wasn’t a Joe Biden fan when President Obama chose him because I wanted Hillary. It all worked the way it was supposed to with the current team and I can sense it will be the same with Tim. They are comfortable together already. It’s really important for that team work especially with our first female President. I’m terrified typing this because I don’t want to jinx anything.

Then the President spoke. He gave us what he always gives us the speech of his lifetime. He has given us that so many times. He gave us Amazing Grace and he gives us the harder lessons. He is always there with the right words and he’s told us what we must do. Last night he reminded us what Hillary told us long ago. It takes a village. And he told us that the American village must lift her and carry her over that finish line so she can work for us. He reminded us that she is more prepared than either he or President Clinton were. She’s a woman. She has done everything they have but backwards and in heels. We’ve got this. Women are powerful. We are competent. We are trustworthy.

And then she appeared. The moment that the President and his Secretary of his State shared. It was an incredibly personal moment that was shared by the world. Then we heard or were reminded that then Senator Clinton recognized the power of President Obama long before anyone knew him. She brought him to the attention of others before they held the most historic primary race in history. People forget that she was part of that historic race. Whoever won that primary we were going to have history. They forget how close that race was. It wasn’t the Bernie/Hillary dynamic. He made history in his own way but he didn’t get  more people out. He wasn’t close. He and the media made it seem closer then it was.  He kept saying that if Democrats turn out then we win. That is true but he wasn’t the one making that happen. That was Hillary. She was quieter, she was more powerful, she was more prepared, she had more qualifications.

Hillary had the backing of the House. She had the backing of the Senate. That wasn’t an establishment thing. That was colleagues of two people saying who they knew was more able to run the country. In 2008 that dynamic was split. This time it was united. It was united because Bernie isn’t a President. He is an organizer. He is a powerful force but he doesn’t admit that he is wrong and he doesn’t compromise. As President you have to do both.

I’ve known and loved Hillary since I entered the workforce just before she became first lady. I watched the patriarchy try to crush her. They hit her and continue to hit her with every possible thing they can come up with. They tell us what they are doing and still people believe them. They tell us that she can’t be trusted and then ask why she isn’t trusted. It is a cycle that we must break. We need to bring truth and facts back into the equation.

We have to have two parties but we need two parties that both acknowledge facts. You can have your opinions on what to do with the facts but you have to acknowledge the facts. Climate change is a great example. The Republicans still deny the science. They deny the droughts. They deny the storms. They deny the rising water. They deny the melting ice caps. They see snow and so the world isn’t warming. It’s insanity. You can see the science and say we will not act. But seeing the science and saying that science is all a hoax defies logic.

It’s time to acknowledge that. It’s time to acknowledge that Hillary isn’t the monster in the closet. Agree with her. Disagree with her. But start with the facts. Don’t burn her at the stake through the cries of the crowds.

Hillary  is the only choice in this election. Don’t make the mistake of playing with your votes. In this election, every vote is going to matter if we don’t want a President Trump in the White House.

History is being made. We will either elect the first female President this year or we will elect a man who could be America’s Hitler. You decide.