Duration: 6:49

Episode XXIII of "Election '08," a series of spoken word works by Mike Varley covering the 2008 campaign. A new entry every Sunday with free mp3 downloads at mikevarley.com. On the DNC Convention II. Hillary. Your Tuesday in the sun, though not the one you would have hoped. Later speeches would sap the ill I felt for you that night, but the burden of posterity brings it all back. Watching montages of praise for the biggest front-runner, train wreck of all time, appeasing the ego of the drama club captain, who couldn't quite grasp Shakespearean rhyme. And when the clapping stopped, her endorsement struck no deeper than a partisan "Rock the Vote" commercial. It spoke of party obligations, which sway no one but the tamest, and the die hards wept on camera. It would have taken true sincerity to convince these stalwarts, or perhaps just "Barack Obama is ready to be President." Conventional cynics see her eyes set on set on '12, but I'll take it one mile further. We've seen she has no qualms reshaping her words, why not rack up several more perjures? Is this really the model we want to fly higher? I warn you: those who say "At any cost" have nothing more to spend. III. I didn't think you had it in you, Willy. We've listened to you shred your legacy for weeks, it seemed you somewhat fancied the idea of being the last Democrat president on record. But out you went on foreign policy night, a mandate in hand to speak your peace. Looking ten years younger through some unknown method, the venerable general of the donkey brigade mapped out with logic this impossible monster, pinning it down for one hard look at the facts. "The power of our example, not the example of our power," a transposition that will never get its due. But more impressive? "Barack Obama is ready to be President," from Hillary Clinton's number one surrogate. The master of doublethink never thought twice. Our final presenter, one Mr. Joe Biden, a joe whose hair patterns perplex me. How can one man have so much scalp showing and still look full-coifed from dead on? There are two ways to take the selection of Biden as Obama's first major decision. Supporters will see it as shoring up weaknesses, addressing their candidates perceived inexperience in issues both foreign and lunch pail. Detractors have cried an admission of weakness and a sign that no "change" is intended. To this I'll say, since when is it weakness to seek out solutions to obvious flaws in your platform? Perhaps since "ruling with your gut" came into fashion eight years ago. But I'll also say this: this anthem of change grows ever reliant on one man and his power with words. IV. Life is not linear, thought it's better to pretend. Here a man stands at the intersection of truth and opportunity, with a four-day event meant to paint him atlas sent. Yet truest realities are compass-led through a chasm whose outlet's uncertain. You don't know where you're going, you can't stay where you've been, and the cave paintings grow stranger with each imagined mile. The desired effects of the speech where achieved, the road already paved by reputation and concession. He spoke not to my agenda or your agenda but to the American agenda, the people stirred romantic by the ethereal Dream. This tends to paint him moderate as dreams don't come in red or blue, the criticism now that's leveled: "Change -- do we believe him?" This thinking can't escape itself from years of "gotcha" politics. The liberals have eaten their share of crow, they want the Right to do the same. Yet success at neighbor's expense works only in times of marked prosperity. The change of lasting impact needs an arbiter to sort our claims. Doubtless this was Obama at his most political yet, and it showed something very important. This is not a politician. His intelligence permits him careful disguise, but this is not a man meant to deal in practicals. This is a secular sermonizer for a left bereft of sound guidance. It's the difference between spinning yarns and parables, if you catch my secret meaning. The difference between relating to and revealing to, for the teacher mustn't mingle with the undergrads. So now he evolves to meet Vision's necessity as chasm walls upslope and smooth. 80,000 witness to this metamorphosis -- but will his wings survive the cocoon?