I find myself with something in common with Michelle Obama this morning. I’m incredibly proud of my country.

You might remember the wife of the newly minted Democratic nominee took some heat a while back for twisting a few words, or having them twisted for her. What she said sounded suspiciously like, “for the first time in her adult life,” she was proud of her country in the wake of her husband’s presidential candidacy.

I’m guessing that’s not literally what she meant. I think she was trying to reference how proud she was of her husband and his race for the White House.

I couldn’t agree with her more.

Forty-five years to the day that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech to a massive throng on the mall in Washington, D.C., the dream took on the look of reality when Barack Obama strode onto that outdoor stage.

The dream was coming true for Barack Obama. And it came true for America, too.

It is, in fact, the American dream, where we believe that a child can grow up to be anything he or she wants to be.

And that includes president of the United States.

Last night Obama became the first person of color to be nominated for president by a major political party.

That does not mean we are done with race in this race. It will remain lurking in places we don’t like to think about. It remains to be seen whether people in a lot of states – and that includes Pennsylvania – vote as good as they talk.

But for one sparkling night, American was everything it is supposed to be, a place where we do not judge a person by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

And by their stance on the issues.

I will admit there is a bit of me that was leery about the way last night’s finale at the Democratic Convention in Denver was being set up. Republicans already are framing Obama as the “rock star” politician, more show than substance.

It seemed moving the proceedings from inside the Pepsi Center to the sprawling Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium, where 85,000 people were waiting to embrace him, appeared to play right into their hands.

It didn’t. Instead, it was electric.

And historic.

To his credit, Obama did not spend much time on race and the historical aspects of the evening. But it was the backbone of everything that happened.

Obama instead turned the tables on his GOP counterpart, moving again and again to link John McCain to the policies of George W. Bush and calling for change.

We now have three months to compare and contrast the two. McCain and the Republicans will gather in St. Paul starting Monday for their convention.

They will be hard-pressed to match the historical implications we witnessed last night in Denver.

It’s referred to as the Mile High City. And it was a Mile High Moment. A black man accepting the nomination of his party to seek the presidency of the United States.

Forty-five years ago, Rev. King talked about the dream. Last night it came true.