Obama-Rama

Hi everyone,

Sorry it's been a while since my last post... As most of you know, Michael and I have been out of commission for quite some time due to the awful chest cold/flu that seemed to have found its way to our apartment a few weeks ago. Thankfully, Michael is now back to normal and I'm about 90% back (from the semi-dead) as well. Perhaps my sickness was lengthened somewhat by standing outside in the 0 degree Celsius weather for about five hours last week but it was all worth it :)

You're probably scratching your head wondering what the heck I'm talking about... Well, despite Michael's dismay, I met up with two ladies from my knitting group (no, they're not old grannies, they're both young women, one of whom is a student about my age - and yes, they're very cool!) and we went to the Barack Obama rally (AKA the Keeping America's Promise Rally with Barack Obama - the PR team who came up with that deserves a raise!). We arrived around 9am at the University of Cincinnati - not to be confused with Cincinnati State University, I found out! - where we got in line (about 50th, I'd say) and waited to be let into the gym. We brought our knitting, which we quickly found out would not be allowed 'because knitting needles are long and pointy and can be used as weapons' but it was really too cold to knit anyways. We had thought we would be allowed into the aigue, at least but no such luck.

Finally warm and toasty inside!

Our long wait outside was paid off with a "Golden Ticket" that was given to those of us close to the front. We got priority seating on the lower level.

I took advantage of the opportunity to walk back to the car to dump our stuff and warmed up enough for the next few hours in line to be tolerable. Note to self, Cinci weather is a lot like Niagara weather - damp and windy. It might have only been zero, but it cut through us. Unfortunately, we were not let into the building until a little after 1230pm. The wait was long, but the company was good, and the speech was great, so it was all worth it.

This first picture was taken from our spot in line (the entrance was behind me...) If you squint really hard, you can see the line off in the distance, on the other side of that fence and across a playing field. Below is the same view but magnified so you can see how far the line goes.



The view from inside the building - another LONG line-up... Apparently there were three lines all of which had thousands of people in them.

So anyways, once we got in and went through our security checkpoints, we (along with the 14,000 others in attendance) listened to a couple 'notable persons' give short talks about why they're supporting Obama. Among them was the Mayor of Cincinnati, who I learned is not only a 'VIP' but who is also a Super Delegate and who has decided to endorse Obama. Tres cool.

After the talks, they pumped up the crowd a fair bit with the token inspirational music (insert U2 here) and had fun picking out the most enthusiastic supporters on the jumbotron. Finally, Barack took the stage and, I must say, it was something I won't ever forget.



He was not only a good speaker but had a charisma about him that I've never seen in a speaker in person. Regardless of the politics, he certainly knows how to hold the attention of a stadium full of people. There are several points of his that I vehemently agree with, and on the other hand, there a couple things that I am a little skeptical about - his health care plan sounds good, but will it actually be do-able, for instance. Also, I was a little taken aback by both Obama's and Clinton's efforts to one-up each other in their condemnations of NAFTA...



As a Canadian, this obviously concerns me more than a little. (As a side note, see this story, which has certainly heightened my confusion...)



And then, there's this article.... Canada says TV Story on Obama NAFTA Deception is not true.

Bah, it is all politics, after all. But given the extreme excitement at the rally and in the media in general, I think some definite social change will inevitably follow this year's election, regardless of the election's outcome. About a year ago, I was not so sure about moving here from Canada, the land of free health care, bilingualism and cultural mosaics (I tried explaining the difference between a mosaic and melting pot to an American a few weeks ago, and that didn't really go well), mostly due to the political landscape; however, I'm now hoping this presidential race will bring out a more liberal transition and a political change of pace, regardless of how naive many republicans would say this viewpoint is.

For now, even though I can't vote and don't have a proper front lawn on which to erect a sign of support, I will wear my Obama button with hope.

PS sorry for the lack of photos and videos that I had promised some of you - turns out that I don't know how to use Michael's camera properly - should have grabbed my own, I guess - and not only is there no audio on the videos, but almost all the photos are blurry.... I had included a few though, and a few YouTube videos from others, so, enjoy!