Memories are short; history dims. The conventional wisdom is that Barack Obama is the first candidate to address 75,000 rapturous fans in a sports stadium to accept the nomination of his party to become President of the United States. He was not.

Senator Obama’s acceptance speech was choreographed on a scale that easily trumped the last time a presidential candidate accepted a nomination in a big stadium setting. But what remains utterly impressive about the Obama campaign is its organisational abilities. Despite some grumbling, the event came off without a hitch.

Senator Obama would do well to remember one of the catchphrases of Bill Clinton’s campaign against George Bush senior in 1992: “It’s the economy, stupid.” As important as foreign policy - and Iraq - will be in this campaign, the financial plight of Americans, and how that will have an impact on voting patterns, cannot be dismissed.

Senator Clinton will not be nominated this week, and we know that is a great disappointment to her many supporters. But she has a long political future ahead of her, and a responsibility to her party to concede defeat gracefully. Many of her die-hard supporters — starting with her husband — have clearly not learned that lesson.

The Democrats have begun laying the foundation for what Senator Obama hopes to accomplish over the next four days. Throughout the day, aides to Senator Clinton and Mr. Obama worked to ease tensions over the Clintons’ roles at the convention. Michelle Obama, in her speech, made a point of saluting Mrs. Clinton’s achievements.

The F.B.I. has a long history of abusing its authority to spy on domestic groups, including civil rights and anti-war activists, and there is a real danger that the new rules would revive those dark days. Clearly, the Bush administration cannot be trusted to get the balance between law enforcement and civil liberties right.