Maureen Dowd goes in search of an explanation as to what is going on at the Democratic Convention:

But this Democratic convention has a vibe so weird and jittery, so at odds with the early thrilling, fairy dust feel of the Obama revolution, that I had to consult with Mike Murphy, the peppery Republican strategist and former McCain guru. “What is that feeling in the air?” I asked him. “Submerged hate,” he promptly replied. Ah, yes, now I recognize that sulfurous aroma.

And she concludes:

And Democrats have begun internalizing the criticisms of Hillary and John McCain about Obama’s rock-star prowess, worrying that the Invesco Field extravaganza Thursday, with Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi, will just add to the celebrity cachet that Democrats have somehow been shamed into seeing as a negative. So that added to the weird mood at the convention, with some Democrats nitpicking Obama’s appearance, after Michelle’s knock-out speech and the fabulously cute girls, with a reassuring white family in a town he couldn’t remember at first. They wondered why he wasn’t wearing a tie, fearing he looked too young, and second-guessed Michelle’s green dress, wondering if it clashed with the blue stage, and fretted that there wasn’t a speaker Monday night attacking McCain and yelling about gas prices. “We’re seeing a train wreck all over again,” said one top Democrat. “I’m telling you, man, it’s something about our party, the shtetl mentality.”

We now have a complete role reversal from just a couple of months ago. Then, the McCain camp was the gang that couldn’t shoot straight while all great powers of insight and brilliance were attributed to the Obama camp. Now the McCain team has “gotten in the heads” of their rivals–who, when not consumed by their own fight-to-the-death with the Clintons, are freaked out that they have become props in McCain web ads.

This is what comes from having a campaign built on cotton-candy phrases and a candidate with no substance. When the magic is gone and people realize it’s all an act, there isn’t anything to fall back on–not a ten point program, a biography of stunning accomplishment, or even a warm personality. When a campaign isn’t creating its own positive narrative and extolling the wonders of its own candidate’s achievements, it is easy for a competent opposition to begin to fill in the blanks. The opponents of an empty campaign can then capture the dead space which a grounded message and a compelling résumé usually occupy.

And that is why the Democratic Convention isn’t yet about anything–because the candidate isn’t. Maybe at the end Obama will think up a rationale for himself, but in the meantime the emptiness is being taken up by McCain mischief-making and aggrieved Clinton supporters. As the Washington Post put it:

Despite Mrs. Clinton’s stirring appeal for Democratic unity last night, which the former president is likely to echo tonight, the focus on them and the persistent questions about party divisions are, if nothing else, a distraction from the story Mr. Obama would like to be presenting.

And after last night, there is also some buyer’s remorse about whether the right people are on the ticket. Not exactly what Democrats may have had in mind.