I wasn't sure we'd get in either, but the line finally broke to a crisp walking pace about half a mile in, as the line scattered a bit to go through the gates where everyone was frisked and put through metal detectors. Entertainment along the way were the usual hawkers, plus the Dead Guy on a Stick worshippers with huge signs shouting at all the sinners, sluts, whores, and devil worshippers in attendance. Someone accosted R with a postcard. On the front it said:
FIRE PROTECTION TIP #1
Stop, Drop and Roll.
with an accompanying picture of someone doing the safety drill in case of fire.
When you turned it over, it said:
Won't work in Hell!
*snort*
funnee!
Inside, the place was standing room only -- and we arrived 2 1/2 hours early!
We got in about a 1/2 hour before the show started, grabbed some stadium munchies and scouted out a decent view.
Obama has a reputation as a great rhetorician, but he wasn't particularly impressive. I went hoping to hear what I'd heard was his final argument, and perhaps this was, but the speech was comprised of all the same sound bites we've heard before. I could predict every move he made, could tell when he was building one crescendo, followed by another crescendo, slightly higher peak, followed by another, high peak, and then another, a small stumble, to the final wind up, when he should have spent 3 or 4 minutes getting everyone pumped. Instead, he kind of hurried through it all -- probably because he, and everyone else, was freezing.
The point of being there, though, was to be in the crowd, to experience their enthusiasm, and enthusiastic they were. I was amused by something I'd never considered before: the people seated behind a candidate are placed there, complete with all the right signs and flags, to make it appear that the entire audience is waving signs and flags.
Not. Especially not when they wouldn't let people bring signs or banners in, though a few folks managed to smuggle homemade banners in.
We found a place to stand to The One's right, next to a couple of guys who I at first thought were a little glassy-eyed. They may have been, but they were nonetheless into the scene and did know the minutiae known by people who watch a nightly news program. At one point, they asked if we'd step aside because some girls were stopping by. I was amused because it was clear that the girls were brought over as props. They didn't know them; there was no chance at further mingling. They were only going to get their pictures snapped with them. As one of the young men said, "So I can put it up on my Myspace page."
So, I snapped a photo of them, too, telling him that I was going to put it on *my* Myspace page. This elicited plenty of guffaws. The girls left and we talked about Obama, Bush, McCain. They were pretty well=informed guys. Not in the political news junkies are. Just more informed than your average 20-somethings.
It was hard to be snide or cynical in that crowd of mostly black folks, Latinos, Asians. It was hard not to cheer and applaud and boo or chant, "O-bam-a, O-bam-a!" a refrain that broke out frequently, to The One's chagrin, because the interruptions were breaking his stride. (And I'm sure he was freezing his ass off and wanted to get through it as fast as possible.)
But yeah: It's really hard not to get caught up in it, with 1000s of people who were, as the guy next to me said, "feelin' ya, O man. Feelin' ya." It's hard to be critical of it all, when 1000s of people identify with the man on the podium, really feek he's someone they can believe in, who makes them feel like *their* history is being made. They're seeing someone like them on the stage, and he has a good shot at being president. It was hard not to absorb their utter giddiness at the prospect.
What was most interesting, I've noticed this before, is The One's rhetoric. What makes Obama different from other candidates is that he asks people to do the heavy lifting. He doesn't say, "I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that." Instead, he says, "*WE* are going to do this. I can't do anything without *your* help." This is what resonates most with people. This is what makes people stand up and cheer, what gets people going. What's he's trying to do is draw them into greater political participation.
As I stood in line for 2 hours, I noticed that no one signed up to volunteer. All those people asking for help, all those people pleading for just 1 hour of time. No one stepped up. There were no mobs around campaign volunteers asking people get involved and join the movement. If this is any indicator, there's no grass roots movement for social change. There are no people being drawn into working for the Democratic party or even just Obama. They were, just like me, there for the experience-event and had no interest in being "political" or getting involved. It was a show.
More tomorrow -- and some (probably) crappy pics too.
http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)