Please. The way the kids kept butting in to ask Dad where he was--awesome. A rare unscripted convention moment. It'll play well with family-types.

Good evening Ezra,

I just think you haven't had the chance to be a father who's spent too much time away from his family doing what he needs to do. When you are and do, it won't feel nearly so campy, no matter who's listening.

Also, you're not a parent, Ezra. Hence a different perspective. Anyone with kids didn't blink at what you call "faux intimacy", and certainly didn't see it as "camp".

i can hardly imagine what it must be like for those two little girls, with their mother, in front of thousands of cheering people!
i dont believe it was scripted.
their older daughter, is a bit more reticent, and wanted to ask a question, but didnt quite find the right moment....and their little daughter was bedazzled and excitedly spontaneous and joyful in the moment!!!!!
cant you just imagine saturday night sleepovers with little girls eating pizza in the lincoln bedroom?
hurray!!!!!!!!!!
:-)

I also thought it was a little forced and not so special. I am also not a parent, but there you have it.

I can't believe Obama is pimping his kids out like that.

Yes, jeebus, every presidential candidate should be like McCain and leave Americans (who we're told "know him so well") in the dark by never even saying how many children he has.

Does he have more houses or more children? Most people I "know very well" are people who I know both those things about.

I thought the kids were adorable and their jubilant "Hi Daddy!" was great. Children have been used judiciously in political campaigns for decades, and the Obama's are more restrained than many about it.

They're as cute as they can be.

Yes. Exactly, Ezra. As someone who grew up in the Midwest and lives in DC...you need help with the camp thing. That whole thing was freaking awesome.

It was kind of cheesy, but it showed the family acting like a family. And in light of the smears they've been getting hit with, it's an image and a message they need to push.

Look at us. We're a normal family doing normal family things.

It's a shame that it's a message which needs to be pushed, but the fact is it does.

I am usually not picky about these things but that was not camp. Camp is an aesthetic that admires things because of their poor taste, like little plastic Jesus dolls or little replicas of the Twin Towers. What happened on stage was not poor taste -- it was sentimental, schmaltzy, etc. I liked it.

Damn, Ezra, another year in DC and you'll be ruined completely. You sound like what I envision Pat Buchanan sounded like 40 years ago or so.

Sometimes if a situation doesn't match your personal style it is best to keep mum so people won't view you as an out-of-touch elitist cynic.

Yes, jeebus, every presidential candidate should be like McCain and leave Americans (who we're told "know him so well") in the dark by never even saying how many children he has.

Ignore the troll, riffle. jeebus has proven that he/she/it is a fucking douchebag.

jeebus, you forgot about Clinton/Obama rules...silly.

It would have been nice if our condidate wasn't so muddle headed to not know what City he was in last night.

So McCain doesn't know how many properties his wife owns, but Barack is confused and doesn't even know what City he's talking from:

Barack Obama is not in Denver tonight, but he did show-up on a monitor in the convention hall that indicated he was appearing live from Kansas City.

Too bad nobody reminded the candidate.

In a Show-Me slip that he may have to make up for on his next visit here, Obama told the convention audience he was with a family in St. Louis.

Oops.

But either somebody whispered in the ear of one of his children on stage, or that youngster was born to be a media consultant, because one of Obama’s two daughters gave the nominee a chance to recast his bearings.

“Daddy, what city are you in?” she asked.

“I’m in Kansas City,” he replied.

------------------
Well, he waqs only of by 250 miles.

But I guess he learned from the likes of Tim Kaine who thinks his state borders Deleware..another muddle headed confused moment for the Democrats.

My wife and I don't communicate with our children over the television so the specialness was lost on me.

"I can't decide if the faux-intimacy of Daddy tele-parenting in the middle of the convention was a bit too precious. "

Michael Bechloss felt that it was worth 4 million votes.

I'm a downright cynical bastard, but even I thought that the whole interplay with the Obama family was cute. It was just a dad with his kids. And parents talk like that with their kids frequently - I bet that conversation sounded familiar to plenty of parents who have to travel alot for work.

Besides, what's Barack going to say, "Sorry, we can't talk like this right now, people are going to think we're putting on a show to get Daddy elected"? His youngest was just excited, and Barack was being a good dad. Not everything is in the prism of elections.

Also, just like to echo B, as that was in no way camp. Schmaltz, I'll give you.

Oh Ezra, BACK AWAY from the cynicism fountain.

Please.

Robert tells the boys to "Be good for Mama" and/or to "Look after Mama" every time we are apart. Or about to be apart. It's a normal, parent-y thing to do, almost talismanesque, like saying "Drive safely" to your best friend as he leaves the house.

It was sincere, not scripted. Not at all.

jeebus has proven that he/she/it is a fucking douchebag.

I have been labeled a douchebag by a commenter on a blog. Verily this is the low point in my life thus far.

And I was only trying to preempt David Shuster!

Once Obama's huge face appeared on the screen, I couldn't bear to watch. This stuff is excruciating to me. I'm constantly afraid something embarrassing is going to happen.

I hope it appealed to normal people, but I have no idea.

I always dread the wife speech at these things. The low point was Liddy Dole 12 years ago...yech. Last convention, I couldn't bear to watch Teresa's speech after 5 minutes. So, in comparison to those, I thought Michelle gave a pretty good speech.

I think the kids were great. How could anyone take seriously the idea that the Obamas are scary or somehow unAmerican when you see how normal and loving they are as a family? Even if you don't have kids, Ezra, surely you have a nephew or niece somewhere. Think outside the narrow box of immediate personal circumstance, dude! C'mon now. Also, didn't you hear the word: coastal elites out, authentic American families in!

I think the girls were six kinds of adorable. You cynic!

OK, so the single metro demo that they have nailed down six ways to Wednesday is "meh", the Replicant haters hated it, and people with kids thought it was great.

I thought it was great, but hey, that's my demo.

And, yes, its not camp, its schmaltz. Cotton candy for those of with families living in flyover country. But once every four years, all of a sudden we are a big deal for three or four months, so deal with it.

I loved the moment and can relate when I have to be a way from my daughter...

For the record, I don't have kids, and I found it cute. So it's not just the parents, Bruce.

A true coastal elite would know the difference between camp and schmaltz.

The thing with Obama's kids was schmaltz. Al Gore making out with his wife on stage was camp. I hope.

It was cute, What the hell is wrong with you all. It is like anything Barack does, it is wrong. What message that was presented here is that "We are average people." That is all.

It was cute, What the hell is wrong with you all. It is like anything Barack does, it is wrong. What message that was presented here is that "We are average people." That is all.

Ezra,
I am a parent and I can tell you that exploiting his children in this way is in keeping with his approach. Obama is all show. I am not sure why we are having a convention anyway, since the DNC has ditched the process altogether. When Pelosi announced that this is the convention where the party would be nominating Barack Obama, she reaffirmed what we all know. The party has abandoned even the semblance of fair=play. It is propaganda week and so exploiting your children to convey the false impression of "just a regular guy" is certainly going to be in our bag of tricks.

Al Gore was not intending Camp when he kissed his wife. Camp implies a distance between what the person doing it professes (low taste) and his actual feelings. That's where the fun is. Al Gore intended you to think he was all guy in doing what he did. Let's all go back and review the meaning and use of Camp before this confusion goes any further.

Camp implies a distance between what the person doing it professes (low taste) and his actual feelings.

Yeah, that's what I was hoping Gore was doing. Sweeping his wife off her feet and giving her a big old kiss like it was some 1940s movie. Ha ha, funny funny.

Otherwise it's gross.

How could anyone take seriously the idea that the Obamas are scary or somehow unAmerican when you see how normal and loving they are as a family? Even if you don't have kids, Ezra, surely you have a nephew or niece somewhere. Think outside the narrow box of immediate personal circumstance, dude! C'mon now.