I may have only been able to watch Sen. Joe Biden accept his Vice President nomination via the large flat screen TV merely meters from where he stood – but the immense roar of applause that exploded within the Pepsi Center upon his arrival reverberated through my bones.

Now, whenever someone searches Joe Biden on Wikipedia I can point to the section about his acceptance of the Vice Presidential nomination for the White House and say, “Yup! I was there!”

When the fire marshal closed access to the floor of the arena I thought my chance to witness history in the making closed along with it.

But when I looked around and saw how many people were huddled around the TV and could all hear the echo of applause before it was broadcasted back to us, I realized it didn’t matter where I watched it, as long as I was here to see it.

Prior to Wednesday night the only thing I knew about Joe Biden was he ran against Hillary Clinton and Barck Obama in the primary elections. While the media was speculating who Obama would choose for his VP, Biden was the only one on the list I recognized.

I wasn’t wowed by Biden’s speech, and I think he used the: “That’s not change! That’s more of the same!” line way too often. But, I wouldn’t mind having him as a Vice President. The one thing that made me smile during his speech was when Biden was talking about his mother and he mentioned how he used to stutter when he was young. His mother said it was because he had so many ideas he couldn’t get it out fast enough.

I’ve had a stuttering problem since I was in the one digit age group and it’s been a constant struggle to speak without sounding like Porky Pig. And seeing anyone go from chronic stuttering to possibly the future right hand man to the President of the United States is pretty awesome.

As I watched Bill Clinton give his speech on the TV hanging over the overpriced food shop of the arena, I couldn’t help but feel like a torch was being passed. Granted, I wasn’t old enough to grasp the state of the economy among other things when Clinton was in office – but I remember things weren’t as bad as they are now.

After Biden was finished speaking the rest of us standing around the TV’s dashed to the escalator to make it out before the exit mayhem began. But just as I was mid-way down the stairs I could hear Biden’s wife saying there was a surprise guest. And then poof! There he was, Sen. Barack Obama. We observers dashed to the giant TV on the second like people who go attack the malls the day after Thanksgiving. Since I’m too short to see most of the screen and there were too many tall people with big heads in front of me I took a few moments to look around at the people around me.

Everyone was so transfixed on the Obama and Biden I’m sure no one blinked for a good minute.

Leaving the convention center was like coming out a of movie theatre. Everyone was talking about what happened, who said what, if Biden make a good impression on the American people and most importantly—Obama’s surprise visit.

It was an important night, not only for Biden and Obama but also for their supporters.

And for myself, it re-lit the shred of optimism I had going into the 2004 election. I just hope it doesn’t get dropped kicked this time around.
—Eming Piansay