For all the hype and preparation that went into this four-day ballyhoo in Boston, Lou DiNatale, a Democratic political analyst holding forth for the New England Cable News network, apparently didn't get the memo on Tuesday night's much-anticipated keynote speaker Barack Obama. Like just about everyone else in Dem country, DiNatale loved the stirring speech delivered by the charismatic young candidate for Senate from Illinois. DiNatale had been less than thrilled by Howard Dean's oratory minutes before, and marveled at the disparity of the Dems' trotting out the lackluster Dean only to turn around and "crank out this guy Osama." Not since "maybe Cuomo in the '80s," DiNatale gushed with a thick Boston twang, had he seen a speaker so compelling as "this guy Osama."
The other three anchors stayed poker-faced, and a commercial break a moment later provided the mercy killing. After Ron Reagan next delivered his speech in support of stem cell research, the cameras dialed back into the NECN booth inside the FleetCenter and DiNatale got "Obama" right the third time, perhaps with a helpful off-camera nudge. It's a good thing he wasn't in the employ of USA Today.
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