DENVER — Finally, I’m up in the Rockies, in time for the Democrats’ shin-dig.

First thought, watching local television coverage… four years ago, in both Boston and New York, I remember a lot of discussion/worries about the conventions making a tempting target for al-Qaeda. This year, I haven’t heard any discussion, beyond the dead guy they found in a Denver hotel room with a pound of sodium cyanide. In 2004, that would have been a much bigger story.

Seth Swirsky was right — in an environment like this, a President with Obama’s limited experience in foreign policy and national security is much more imaginable than it would have been four years ago.