He walked out on the stage of his life, before a crowd of 75,000 and a television audience in the millions from all around the world, and gave the speech of his young life.  The crowds ate it up, as tears flowed and voices were raised in praise.

The initial feedback was instantaneous for him, but the feedback that matters is still a little more than two months away.  Senator Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, and we were witness to history, whether it was a history we wanted or not, and it was very special in that regard.

Today, his presumptive opponent, Senator John McCain, made some history of his own by selecting as his running mate a woman, the governor of Alaska.  Historic, but also likely to come under heavy fire from a number of sources.  The Democrats have taken their turn going after McCain’s age – - remember when they called him “confused”?

He would be the oldest person elected to the office, should he win in November.  The Republicans have called into question Obama’s youth in promoting McCain’s experience and readiness to lead.  And yet, McCain chooses as his running mate a woman several years Obama’s junior and who is a newly elected governor with no national exposure or foreign policy experience.

Imagine what the Democrats are going to say about an aging McCain whose seven plus decades of life include more than five in North Vietnamese captivity, and what if, and look who is just one of those heartbeats away from the Oval Office.  It’s not likely to be anywhere near as polite as those words, to be sure.

If it was McCain’s intention to divert attention from whatever front page news and momentum the Democratic Convention had generated for Obama, his choice has probably served that purpose.  How the choice matures, though, remains to be seen.

Some already have compared it to the disastrous choices of the past in Dan Quayle and Geraldine Ferraro, neither of whom were able to light it up on the campaign trail, or add measureably to the campaigns of their party’s nominees.  President Bush the first won despite Quayle, and Walter Mondale was going to lose anyway.

It’s the Labor Day weekend now, and most people are looking forward to three days off. Summer-ending cookouts, baseball games, college football, Monk and Law and Order marathons and more are on our minds now, and the tumult and shouting of the Democratic convention is waning. Poor gulf states are going to be worrying about the approaching hurricane, and for many it won’t be until next week that thoughts of politics resumes.

McCain’s announcement is what the week is ending with, and the stock market is down again on less than positive news about our economy.  It isn’t so much that it’s a case of “sound and fury signifying nothing” so much as it is yesterday’s papers are going to be wrapping tomorrow’s fish, if not today’s. Everyone still has to pay more for their groceries and gas, and winter’s coming quickly.

The candidate who gets on with the business of the real people who are facing those real issues the soonest is the one we’ll all listen to next week.  Let’s get going, fellows and gals.