DNC Day 4: Some Dems falsely wring their hands over venue for tonight’s big speech

Preparations before Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver, Colo. (source: CQPolitics.com via Flickr.com)

Talk about PTSD.

The psychological sting still felt and the lesson seared into the modern “convention”-al wisdom of the Democrats even four years after the Swift Boat attack ads of 2004 that destroyed John Kerry is, “Don’t let the Republican noise machine define you.”

And some Dems here in Denver are worried that the choice of venue for Barack Obama’s historic nomination acceptance speech tonight, slated for 10pm Michigan time, plays into the hand of recent Republican attack ads.

The Republicans have been trying for weeks now to say that Barack Obama is a celebrity (and nothing more) because he can fill arenas and move large crowds with rousing oratory. Other attack ads paint him as a false Messiah or a Chairman Mao-like figure to be feared.

And some members of the once-bit Democratic Party fear that Invesco Field, a stadium where the NFL’s Denver Broncos play, is too grand and large a venue and will play right into the hands of GOP name-calling.

And no, it does not help the Democrats if Obama is perceived as a vacuous rock star, but neither does it help if Obama allows the Republican smears to dictate his behavior. Obama is popular. His message is popular. Lots of people want to come to hear him. Let them. You don’t see John McCain selling off all his houses to prove he’s sensitive to the economy, do you?

I mean, if some mean guy in the hallway in between classes called you a “nerd,” would you never study again or stop reading or going to the library so you could shake the label? That would be pretty silly. And so would having Barack Obama deliver his acceptance speech from a freshly wiped-down booth inside the cozy, down-home confines of a local Denver truck stop.

The Karl Rove-era Republicans are expert at turning an opponent’s strengths into weaknesses. Barack is a better student, a better speaker, a better leader than John McCain. So the Republicans make Barack Obama into Paris Hilton so McCain has a chance, or that’s the strategy behind the attack ads.

But it’s the Republicans’ job to take away Obama’s natural advantages, not the Democrats’.

Playing it safe and having Obama deliver his speech in the Pepsi Center is not going to stop the attacks, but it would blunt a fantastic opportunity for political spectacle that could electrify the country.

The cynic would say that attack ads work because for so many apolitical, overworked Americans, they are processed the same as ads for lipstick and SUVs and soft drinks, and consumer-voters choose their brand based on marketing and mud instead of platform and character.

But, what, really, could potentially be better marketing than a prime-time stadium event to add excitement and extra viewership to the speech?

But even more core in this decision to stage the speech in a stadium that seats some 80,000 — which, by the way, was made before Obama’s trip overseas and before the McCain attack ads debuted — is that Obama CAN fill the stadium. So why wouldn’t he want to?

And really, what could be more populist and non-elite than reaching out to as many people as possible and offering non political insiders access to this moment in history?

No Dem should care how the GOP spins it. Obama’s job is to be himself, and not allow some conservative-paid ad agency to dictate his decisions.

And thankfully, in the case of this most important, most historic night in Denver, it hasn’t.

Dems 1, GOP 0.

UPDATE: At 5:46pm Michigan time, the line to get into Invesco Field is literally a mile long, according to Center for Independent Media National Editor Jeff Morley, who is currently in that line. Events at the stadium began at 5pm Michigan time.

The full schedule for speakers slated to address the crowd at Invesco Field tonight leading up to Obama’s acceptance speech from 10pm-11pm Michigan time is here.