The Next President of the United States

I am probably the only person who did not hear Barak Obama’s speech to the Democratic Convention. But I did get to hear him speak at a rally Sunday night.

We were not as close as this photo with its zoom suggests. In fact, even though we were the first ticket-holders there, we were not right up by the stage in “The Mosh Pit.”

“How do we get into the Mosh Pit?” I asked a volunteer.
“See that guy in the rust-colored vest and green jacket? Kiss up to him.”
I made the mistake of fishing in my purse for the handy twenty I always keep on hand for bribing convenience, and when I looked up Green Jacket was gone.

However, even through we were not in the Mosh Pit of Political Favoritism, we were with a fun group. Gary, Marcia and I were tucked into a group of people who didn’t seem to mind at all when I invited myself into their conversations. We had to entertain ourselves for an HOUR because the politicos were late. At one point some volunteer in a blue jacket puttered around the empty chairs and I boisterously cheered her. “Blue Jacket in ’08!” I clapped, and the rest of the crowd cheered her for no good reason.

At one point in the very long waiting process, Marcia tapped on her watch and announced “Four. More. Minutes.” I tried to start a chant of “Four! More! Minutes!” but it didn’t go anywhere.

Eventually the politicos showed, and except for one point when I alone cheered at a non-applause line, it was inspiring. The crowd loved Barak:

The collection of people behind Barak were some “real” citizens, a woman who had appeared on American Idol:

…and a page out of mental illness history, Senator Thomas Eagleton, who seems a little afraid of the Next President of The United States:

Senator O is a natural speaker, and the rally was fun if extremely late and extremely long.