All week, the question lingered on our minds: Can this rift be healed? Can the envious one accept the ascendance of the arrogant one? Can they make it through the convention without tearing each other apart?

The answer, it turns out, is yes they can. Barack Obama’s speech mended divisions at MSNBC and brought Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann back together again after they spent the week mostly at each other’s throat. The network’s coverage of the convention became the butt of jokes. Not a day went by without buffoonishly large egos crashing into each other on live television. But on Thursday night, the two principal antagonists in this melodrama came together in praise of Obama’s wonderfulness.

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“For 42 minutes, not a sour note,” Olbermann declared at the conclusion of Obama’s nomination acceptance speech at Denver’s Invesco Field. “And spellbinding in a way usually reserved for works of fiction . . . almost a fully realized, tough, crisp, insistent speech in tone in the sense of cutting through the clutter. I’d love to find something to criticize about it,” he said to his MSNBC co-anchor. “Got anything?”

“No,” Matthews answered. “You know, I’ve been criticized for saying he inspires me. To hell with my critics.” This line drew loud cheers from the crowd that stood gathered around MSNBC’s outdoor set in Denver.

“Let me tell you what was great about [Obama’s speech],” Matthews said. “What he did was, and it’s a military practice, it’s called attacking from a defensive position. . . . You take your opponent’s best shot and you throw it back at him.”

Olbermann eagerly agreed, “He took the last eight years of the Bush administration and shouted at America, ‘Enough!’” He added, “Your observation about this as a historical military struggle in its precision is right on there.”

All that was missing from the reconciliation was the on-air hug and apology. The Matthews-Olbermann love-in came after a week of acrimonious on-air bickering among MSNBC anchors and reporters that left many wondering whether MSNBC president Phil Griffin was running a network or a day care. Among the incidents:

“Get a shovel”: On Monday night, as host Joe Scarborough described a surge in the polls that had McCain pulling even with Obama, Olbermann could be heard in the background saying, “Jesus, Joe, why don’t you get a shovel?” Scarborough said, “A shovel?” He then tried to defend his point from Olbermann, who apparently didn’t want to hear any evidence that McCain might be doing well in the polls. After he was finished, Chris Matthews asked, “Are we done?” Scarborough replied, “Well, if you want to be done. Would you like me to get another shovel?”