Grounding his message of hope, fighting Republican fire with his own, reaching out with tales of association

One was to help voters, in emotion-laden language, to connect his promise of “change” to more earthly policy proposals, the other to show he could take the fight to Sen. John McCain over Obama’s own image and the best way forward for the nation.

Obama showed real fire, and directed memorable fire at his opponent, even on McCain’s signature issue, national security. “If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament and judgment to serve as the next commander in chief, that’s a debate I’m ready to have,” he said.

Obama is a natural speechmaker, as Hillary Rodham Clinton reminded voters (in a negative way) throughout their primary battle. He has always excelled at making the best case for himself, never more so than in his breakthrough speech — probably his best one yet — at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

And if this convention was dominated by the Kennedy legacy on Monday night, and by the contributions and complications of the Clintons on Tuesday and Wednesday, the spotlight shifted forward to the next generation of leadership when Obama took centrestage.

But Obama’s purpose, obviously, was to open a direct channel between his candidacy and the personal lives of Americans, rather than open up about himself.

McCain has portrayed Obama as a politician who, no matter his promise, is not prepared for the presidency. And he has arguably been effective in doing so, given the tightness of the race despite so much American anger over the economy and the state of the world.

Obama, in directly challenging the “celebrity” image that McCain has tagged him with, turned to his own portrayal of the “heroes” to whom he related: the unemployed factory worker who reminded him of his young adulthood in Chicago, the woman trying to start her own business who reminded him of his grandmother, who rose to a management job after years of losing promotions because she was a woman.

... contd.