Last night I watched George W. Bush give the best speech of his career. He was calm, poised, and comfortable… three adjectives not often used when referring to the President’s oratorical style. His speech, while rather uneventful, was well assembled. At this point, there’s no removing the rhetoric from the man or the man from the rhetoric, we all know that’s beyond the realm of possibility, but I have to admit that this was the most impressive performance and some of the least offensive content I’ve ever seen coming out of that man.

That said, I still felt lied to throughout the entire event. Try as he might, I just can’t listen to him, even at his very best, and feel comforted. At times my mind wanders and I start to imagine him standing roadside, by a wagon bearing his likeness, trying to sell me his special miracle tonic with the same energetic, plainspoken rhetoric and criminally ‘optimistic’ take on reality with which he sells foreign policy and tax reform.

Thankfully, Mr. Bush’s acceptance speech was followed on MSNBC by commentary by a decidedly centrist panel. Even more thankfully, that was followed by John Edwards and John Kerry’s response, live from Springfield Ohio. Jesus Christ did they look good. Grins ear to ear, thoughout. Open collars and LiveStrong bracelets flaring. They were the absolute image of confidence. More so than ever before, they appeared American. I was flabbergasted.

Edwards shot back at Bush aggressively, but respectfully. It’s simply not in his character to be the attack dog that we’ve come to expect from his role, but he did his damnedest last night and scored a few hits. He spoke as passionately as I can remember about Senator Kerry’s war record, and his quality of character, all the while standing before the man who’s smile couldn’t be contained.

When Kerry took the podium, he started off slowly. I worried for a moment that he’d lose the momentum built up for him by Edwards, and not match the surprisingly engaging delivery of Bush earlier in the evening. He told personal stories and eased us in before finally showing the brand of disdain and indignation we’re all been longing to see from him. Maybe it’s too little too late, but we’re all happy to see him defending himself in these past weeks, instead of giving the American people the benefit of the doubt and hoping to rise above the polital slurry.

In the end, I was sure of only two things: That we had just witnessed the most impressive evening of political oratory of this election; and that I am making the right choice on November 2nd.