On August 28, 2008, Barack Obama made history by becoming the first African-American to accept the presidential nomination of a major party. He did so on an historic anniversary, too, that of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech 45 years earlier. In Atlanta, not far from King's old neighborhood, the politically-conscious have one place to go to watch history being made, and that's where I was on August 28: Manuel's Tavern.

While the current establishment isn't that old even in American history terms -- founded in 1956 by Manuel Maloof -- it does feature a century-old main bar that glints with a number of brass plaques bearing the names of loyal patrons past. As Manuel himself became more involved in politics, politics became inextricably associated with his tavern. And now, while Georgia's government is controlled by Republicans, every Tuesday night sees an informal gathering of who's who in Democratic politics for "Government in Exile" where pints and policy are mixed in equal measure.

Not surprisingly, Manuel's was packed to the gills for Sen. Obama's speech that Thursday night. The tavern had dedicated many of its TV screens to solid convention coverage all week, but the atmosphere was much more relaxed -- and roomy -- on Wednesday night when Obama's running-mate accepted his nomination. Well over an hour before Obama took the stage, it was standing room only throughout the 4,000 square foot establishment. "It was amazing. The room was packed and everyone was just quiet and watching the TV and just engrossed," said server Megan Bartlett. "I was getting goosebumps all night even though I was running beers to tables like crazy!"

After the speech, I talked to Wylie Hughes, a 31-year-old graduate student and veteran of two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps. He was pleased to hear Obama address veterans' issues in his speech. "I know what veterans went through. As a veteran, I know it was difficult for me when I came out of the military trying to be a civilian again."

On the other side of the military coin, Obama supporter Andrea Leonard, a 24-year-old psychology grad student, thought the speech might have been a little too militaristic. "The only thing that I would actually have liked him to say was a little more anti-war stuff. Security to me is a lot more than just having our guns in the Middle East. That's the one thing: I wish he would be a little more pro-peace and less 'Let's go ahead and go into Afghanistan.'" Obama's campaign statements about shifting attention back to Afghanistan and deploying additional combat brigades there are a negative for Leonard.

A couple other patrons particularly recalled the rhetorical strength of Obama's speech in asserting himself against the McCain campaign. Painter Kombo Chapfika, 26, thought overall that "the tone of the speech was a lot more forceful than his other speeches. He's been kind of -- not passive, but nowhere near as forceful as he was tonight in any of his previous speeches. I thought for the first time he actually attacked McCain on what McCain professes to be his strengths, but aren't really. Because McCain tends to have the offensive more in any of these media interactions that they're having."

Web designer Will Clarke, 26, echoed those sentiments. "I felt like he really went to the nut meat of McCain's argument for being president.... You know being the stronger candidate, being the one that can defend us better. [Obama] kind of told him that, no, the Democratic party is going to be the party that restores dignity to America in the view of the world, and in the view of Americans here."

A musician with the Washington, D.C.-based Junior League Band, 26-year-old Lissy Rosemont, liked how Obama sought bipartisan unity on divisive issues. "He did a great job of addressing abortion, immigration, gun control, and civil unions, and went ahead and just went straight for it. [He] brought up the issue of, this is where we all can agree, you know, nobody wants to see a mother separated from her child; nobody wants the hunter in Ohio unable to have access to guns, but we don't need uncontrolled guns on the streets. I think going ahead and just being straightforward about the issues and saying what he thinks about it, and recognizing where it can be bipartisan was a very unifying part of his speech tonight. That will, I think, serve him in the longer run."

"It's hard sometimes to look at America and say this is a really great place to be and we're doing a lot of things really, really well," Andrea reflected later in her remarks. "But it is true, that this is probably the only place in the world where a person like him would ever make it to the position he's in now. And I think that's -- the way he focused on that a little really was refreshing."

Megan took a moment during the speech to stand still and watch with Brian Maloof, the tavern's current owner and son of its founder, Manuel. "Brian and I were standing there watching the speech for a minute, and he just said, what would my dad think," she recalled. "We just said, God, he'd be so proud."

There was a lot of pride to go around that night.