The 17 Minutes That Launched a Political Star

(By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)   |   Buy Photo

"I was feeling like a proud older brother, and I had tears coming out of my eyes when he finished," Link said. "Wanting to be a tough guy, I was wiping tears on the corner of my suit coat and trying to clean up. Then I turn around and see there's not a dry eye in the whole place. He got to everybody. I firmly believe if they put his name on the nomination that night ahead of Kerry, Barack would have won."

Said Cauley: "Maybe it was almost like magic, because it was one of those things that happened exactly right."

Said Durbin: "That speech was his launch. It changed everything for him."

Obama walked to the edge of the stage, hugged Michelle, shook some hands, and disappeared behind the curtain, relieved and exhausted. A convention official guided him out through one of the arena's back doors, and he rode with his advisers to the downtown club for his after-party.

Only when they pulled up did the extent of Obama's 17-minute transformation sink in for the politician and those close to him. Hundreds of people jammed the club. Dozens more waited in a line that curled across the street. A fire marshal worked to control the crowd. Celebrities called Obama's staff asking how they could get in.

"Well, I guess people came," Obama said.

In the weeks that followed, Obama would lose the final, treasured vestiges of his private life. His staff would arrange a meeting to discuss security and crowd control. His solo runs along the shores of Lake Michigan would be deemed too risky. Interview and speaking requests would impede on his free time -- his writing time, his basketball-playing time. Advisers would take away the Jeep he loved to drive alone on the highways between Chicago and the statehouse in Springfield, insisting instead that he use a professional driver.

Now, outside the nightclub in Boston, Obama's staff brainstormed a hastier solution. Michelle stayed back, overwhelmed by the crowd. Cauley and Chief of Staff Darryl Thompson, big men and high-level political strategists, told Obama to stick close behind them and to move quickly.

Before exiting the car, the two advisers turned one last time to face the state senator from Illinois' 13th District, making sure he understood their instructions. Then Cauley and Thompson linked arms and bulldozed into the building, clearing a path for a future presidential nominee.