Greek Tragedy?

(ABC News) - So all the buzz today was supposed to be about two big Wednesday speeches -- Bill Clinton’s and Joe Biden.

Why, then, is everyone in Denver talking about stagecraft?

It’s simple: Reporters got their first glimpse of the stage where Barack Obama will deliver his speech tomorrow night at Invesco Field. Reuters described the set as similar to a "Greek temple."

Thus a legend -- not the good kind -- was born.

Said one Democrat: "This is a disaster of mythical proportions." Said another: "It's not enough that he wants to be president -- he wants to be Zeus." Said the first: "Will he send down thunderbolts from the mountain?"

Those are the Democrats -- though assuredly not Obama partisans. Cue the Republicans: The RNC blasted around an e-mail referring to the "Temple of Obama."

"Tomorrow you're going to see Obama come down from Olympus to be among us mere mortals," Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, told reporters in Denver.

Senior Obama advisers dismiss the comparisons. There will be columns, they say, but it won’t look like a Greek temple -- or even the White House portico.

"It looks like any state capitol," one adviser tells ABC News. "It's a bunch of columns."

For the candidate who brought you his very own faux-presidential seal, this is not a good perception. Obama aides insist that the set is staying, and that it won't look as bad as it sounds right now; the real backdrop, they say, will be his supporters.

It raises anew the larger issue: After Berlin, and the "Celebrity" ads, does Obama want to accept the nomination in front of a screaming crowd of 75,000 people?

Obama folks, who see the evening as an organizing tool, say yes. There’s a real enthusiasm gap here that the Obama folks want to exploit

But I wonder: If this was being put together post-"Celebrity" -- had it not been in the works for months -- would the campaign have had such a problem with accepting the nomination inside the Pepsi Center -- just like people normally do?