THE FIRST NIGHT

Posted at 7:41 a.m. ET

Whenever there is "emotion" at a political event, most journalists and analysts go directly into the tank and hide there.  The better ones, while showing respect for legitimate feelings, try to keep something of a distance, a journalistic detachment. 

Something went wrong at the Democratic convention last night.  There was plenty of emotion - Ted Kennedy's sad appearance, a speech by Caroline Kennedy that recalled our image of her as a toddler in the White House, and Michelle Obama's dignified tribute to her family.  These things were all fine, but something still went wrong, even though too many journalists gushed at the gushing that took place on the podium. 

Americans have a sense of time.  They understand that a political meeting doesn't occur in a vacuum, but at a time in history.  The convention last night gave us the feeling that, for the people in that hall, time stopped decades ago.

But in the post-9/11 world, it has not stopped for Americans.

Karl Rove was correct in saying that Americans have questions about Barack Obama, and that the Democrats missed the chance to address those questions at the starting gate.  What went wrong was that the convention lacked a sense of danger, a mature understanding of where this country is in August of 2008.

Iran's nuclear program is on the horizon.

Russian tanks have roared into Georgia.

Terror groups continue their plotting, their suicide bombings, and their attempts to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

We just saw much of the world fall to its knees as China, a complete dictatorship, pulled off one of the most propagandistic Olympics since Hitler's production in Berlin in 1936.

Yet, you would never know that any of this was happening if you tuned in to the Democrats.

Wait, you say, they have four more days.  But that's just the point.  A mood is set on the first day, and, once again, the new Democratic Party showed it just does not share the sense of danger that most Americans feel, and that is keeping this race so close.  The faithful Democrats simply shrug off this time in history as "the politics of fear."

The only "politics of fear" I'm feeling right now is the fear that these people might get elected.

We'll blog through the next three nights and see if there's some growing up in Denver, some sense of danger that is the mark of a responsible political party.

August 26, 2008