Obamania

I was in line at 8:30 this morning to see Obama. The doors at the Key Arena opened at 11AM, and Obama was scheduled to appear by 12:30. When I first arrived, I thought that maybe I'd misjudged things, and I had more time to spare. I was one of the first two or three hundred people in line. But it didn't take long for the lines to get really long, making me thankful I'd arrived when I did. In line, I met a couple of college students from Nigeria, several high school students looking for an excuse to cut class, and more than a few old farts like me.

There were entrepeneurs selling Obama cookies They claimed that 100% of the proceeds went to Obama, and they were cute, so I believed them and bought a couple cookies for $2 apiece.


When the HAG (Hot Asian Gal in Hal's parlance) came back a couple of minutes later, most of her cookies were gone.

I didn't have to stand for hours in the rain, but it was bloody cold! The wind was blowing, so most of us in line huddled together in like musk oxen in a blizzard to stay warm. After a couple of hours, which actually passed by quite quickly, we were let into the warmer confines of the Key Arena. At first it looked like it was going to be a major security hassle to get in. There were tables set up to search bags and people, but after the first 50 or so people went through, the security people apparently gave up and let everyone in. When I passed by the entry, the only security guard I saw was frantically pushing a button on some hand-held device counting the number of people who went through the doors.

I got a great seat in the arena. If the stage was in the end zone, I was on about the 50 yard line, about 20 rows up. (This is actually a basketball/hockey venue, so you'll have to use your imagination) I could have gone down to the floor level, but being basically lazy, I wanted a place to sit. (As it turned out, after Obama appeared, no one was sitting down anyway) The next hour and a half actually passed by pretty quickly. The guy sitting beside me was a 60-something Vietnam vet, who in all his years of following politics had never seen anything like this before. And he lived through the glory years of MLK and RFK. There were a couple of high schoolish students on the other side of me, and a couple of late-fiftyish black woman in front of me. There were periodic attempts to get a wave going in the crowd, and a bunch OBAMA chants, but generally the crowd was well-behaved even thought they were obviously pumped to be there. The highlight of the pre-game show was probably the dueling dancers at one end of the coliseum. Two ladies in the "end-zone" gave it their all with wild dances to the piped-in music. They'd trade moves, as if to say, "top that, bitch!" It was great fun with arms and hips and hair flailing between two women 20 rows apart.

Here's the arena a few minutes after I arrived.

Here's the arena a few minutes after that.

The first "introductory" group were a bunch of notable local musicians who put together a "Yes We Can" song. It's actually a pretty good song, but the guy (who was the piano player in the video) speaking to the crowd did anything but fire up the crowd. I myself (even though I'm usually reticent in public venues) was compelled to yell for the hook a couple of times! After that, the mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels took the stage with a surprisingly rousing endorsement of Obama. He then introduced Christine Gregoire, Washington's governor, who gave an amazing endorsement of Obama. I had been perfunctorily introduced to her at a function at UW, and I don't hold a strong of opinion of her one way or another, but I had no idea she was such a good public speaker.

With her introduction of Obama, the crowd went absolutely bat-shit crazy. Obama's entrance sent a shiver up my spine, and brought a tear to my eye. If this had been a revival meeting with an altar call, I would have walked to the altar and sacrificed all my worldly goods to follow Obama. He was absolutely electrifying. It would have taken a dead man, or someone with a heart of stone not to be moved by his 45 minute speech. I don't think I heard anything I hadn't heard him say before, but to hear it in person was absolutely amazing, especially for a hard-bitten, cynical old fart like me.

This video is pretty shaky, with full zoom on, and with me way too excited to hold a camera steady. But if you bear with it, and turn up the volume, you might get a little bit of the feel of what was going on.

In conclusion, I've never been at any event of any kind that moved me the way this one did. Vote Obama! My only regret is that I can't vote for him tomorrow in the caucuses.