I'm just home from the first unofficial day of the convention (officially, the event starts tomorrow). I'll give you a blow-by-blow of my day, and some random thoughts in between.

I've gotten some email today about my column in the Denver Post about the concept of "presidentialism" - ie. the obsession with presidential election politics to the exclusion of all else.

If the Founding Fathers could see us all now, they would be appalled. As America has been trained to treat the presidency as a royal throne, we have stomped all over the very anti-royalist revolution that brought this nation into being.

In this week's edition of The Trade Report, Barack Obama visits Virginia to discuss how unfair globalization policies have hurt rural areas of that state - and the Republican Party responds by citing the wealthiest county in America as proof everything is swell.

Before we can assess an "Obama Moment" we have to know if this is an actual "moment," or whether this is a mirage, like the one when Bill Clinton promised to oppose NAFTA and then rammed it through Congress "over the dead bodies" of the progressive movement. We have to ask Barack Obama—and ourselves—the same question: What side are you on?

From Bloomberg News:

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka delivers a slap at former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in a slide show exhorting union members to back Democrat Barack Obama for president.

In the last week, the national media has ramped up its speculation that Indiana senator Evan Bayh is going to be named to the vice-presidential ticket by Barack Obama. Mind you, this is all speculation - this is what our national media now substitutes for actual reporting.

I'm just home from the first unofficial day of the convention (officially, the event starts tomorrow). I'll give you a blow-by-blow of my day, and some random thoughts in between.

I've gotten some email today about my column in the Denver Post about the concept of "presidentialism" - ie. the obsession with presidential election politics to the exclusion of all else.

If the Founding Fathers could see us all now, they would be appalled. As America has been trained to treat the presidency as a royal throne, we have stomped all over the very anti-royalist revolution that brought this nation into being.

In this week's edition of The Trade Report, Barack Obama visits Virginia to discuss how unfair globalization policies have hurt rural areas of that state - and the Republican Party responds by citing the wealthiest county in America as proof everything is swell.

Before we can assess an "Obama Moment" we have to know if this is an actual "moment," or whether this is a mirage, like the one when Bill Clinton promised to oppose NAFTA and then rammed it through Congress "over the dead bodies" of the progressive movement. We have to ask Barack Obama—and ourselves—the same question: What side are you on?

From Bloomberg News:

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka delivers a slap at former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in a slide show exhorting union members to back Democrat Barack Obama for president.

In the last week, the national media has ramped up its speculation that Indiana senator Evan Bayh is going to be named to the vice-presidential ticket by Barack Obama. Mind you, this is all speculation - this is what our national media now substitutes for actual reporting.

With this week's reemergence of globalization and trade as major 2008 campaign issues, we thought it as good a time as any to launch our regular report on globalization, helping you sort through what is too often an esoteric and inaccessible discourse on one of the most important set of issue