Remember back in 2004 when that relatively unknown Senator from Illinois gave that magnificent Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention and totally stole the show?
Even though he was not running for the nomination that year and the possibility of an African American president still seemed hard to imagine, it felt as though the Democratic Party had just found its answer to George W. Bush Reality-Lite politics.
It was clear we were witnessing a man who would change history — a new breed of politician equal parts Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. with a message of hope and the promise to challenge the status quo.