For Obama tonight, opportunity, risk
DENVER - Barack Obama will take a significant political risk tonight when he accepts the Democratic nomination for president in a 76,000-seat stadium on a stage set with faux-Greek columns, accompanied by a cast of world-famous pop stars and fireworks.
Democratic strategists said the goal was to play to Obama's strengths, highlighting his youth, energy, and talent for speaking before large audiences.
But others worried it could backfire, playing into the hands of Republicans who have spent the last month portraying Obama as a vanity candidate with charisma and a heavy dose of arrogance, but little substance and not enough seasoning for the White House.
"The advantage is that it puts him at his best - he's a great speaker, he moves audiences quite emotionally, so I think there's a great advantage for him," said Christopher Arterton, dean of the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University. "But the McCain effort to paint him as a celebrity is something he has to watch, and if this comes off as closer to a rock concert as opposed to a speech to a nation from someone likely to be president, I think it could be detrimental."
The white-washed plywood columns in particular became the fodder for much merriment yesterday, as aerial photos of the stage set made them look like a papier-mache Acropolis.
Republicans, who have taken to ridiculing Obama as "The One," mocked the "Temple of Obama," and advised reporters on what styles of togas they might wear to the event. Democrats retorted by circulating a photo of President Bush flanked by faux neoclassical columns for his acceptance of the GOP nomination in 2004.
"This does put [Obama] in an awkward setting where it's this, 'I'm coming from Mount Olympus to save you' sort of thing - you have to be very careful with that imagery," said Wayne Lesperance, a political scientist at New England College in Henniker, N.H., who also said the venue could create an "exciting, invigorating, fun, upbeat atmosphere."
Republican strategist David Winston said he found the columns puzzling more than anything.
"I just don't understand how it mixes with the theme of change," he said. "I would have expected something more high-tech."
Invesco Field at Mile High, the home of the NFL Denver Broncos, is about a mile from the Pepsi Center, where the rest of the convention speeches are taking place this week.
The move was intended to open the event to more people and to heighten the drama of the historic speech - Obama is the first African-American to accept the nomination of a major political party, and he will be speaking on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
Some Democrats said the move harkened back to John F. Kennedy's decision to accept the nomination at the outdoor Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles in 1960.
Former Senator Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania, an adviser to Kennedy, said that the setting of the speech had an "electrifying effect on the campaign." 