Ages and ages

Hello MiNdependents!

Well it has been a long, long time but I've found a few extra minutes here on my lunch break and thought I'd update this, even though I've had little time to do much research. However, there was a great event that occurred back on June 29 at the International Market Square in Minneapolis. It was Barack's Minnesota Kickoff and it was a rousing success.

My friend Mikey signed me up to volunteer at the event, which began around 5 p.m. You wouldn't know it though, because the line to enter the Market snaked around the entire building five or six deep. I'm not sure of the final tally, but more than 3,000 certainly and I heard closer to 5,000 people attended. While they waited outside in the scorching heat (~93 degrees and no real shade available) Mike and I, along with maybe 10 others canvassed the line for volunteers. It was not hard work and I filled up my entire stack of some 100 half sheets, so, the people were obviously interested in helping out. Once people started going inside, well it was a sight to behold.
The market square has a large atrium inside, five stories high with a glass ceiling. The main floor is open, with a sunken center and a raised portion where Obama would speak. There are four floors above the floor, each encircling the entire room with fencing. Every inch of floor space, and every surrounding deck was filled with Obama supporters. It reminded me of an old Yankees game footage, seeing all the decks full of screaming fans, or even Olde Tyme political rallies where people are hanging from the fences trying to get a peek at the senator. No one was hanging from the fences obviously, but the first row were all sitting with their feet dangling into space while the second, third and fourth rows peered over them. I got a spot on one of the staircase landings that jutted out right next to the stage. We were supposed to try to keep them clear but to no avail.
On a side note, I thought it was pretty poor of the people, old and young, who refused to leave the landings because "other people" wouldn't. Well, the "other people" were volunteers who spent two hours in the sun canvassing, I think we earned a nice spot. Some of these jerks just pretended not to hear us ask them to move along, and toward the end we just gave up and cursed a particular red-shirted woman and an ill-fitting tan jacketed man in horn-rim glasses who exhuded "Asshole" with every syllable of body language. I digress.
Anyway, about an hour after he was supposed to, Obama took the stage and talked for what I thought was a solid hour, but the paper reported the next day it was only about 30 minutes. Let me tell you, this guy has poise. And presence. He didn't use cards or a teleprompter, and just walked up to the stage and spoke at length about taking the country back, and reestablishing ourselves as a benevolent force in the world. He also spoke about the domestic problems we're facing, health care and education. I love that he doesn't promise to fix this or that. In fact he made no promises, it was more like a discussion.
He gets up there and just starts talking, and it sounds like he's talking directly to you. I've heard the greatest orators have this gift but I've never been in the presence of someone who could actually do it. And the way he discusses his topics is not crescendo after crescendo of pomp and anger, but carefully plotting out: problem, problem, solution...? And yes, sometimes he gets agitated, and you feel it with him. Yeah, how can we allow our education system to wallow like this, how can we, the richest nation in the world allow 45 million people to go uninsured? And he never says, as many a democrat is wont, that the government can fix this, or we just need to spend more money here... rather, he preaches personal responsibility. Especially when it comes to education.
Allow republicans and independents even Hillary addled democrats to hear this guy talk and he can win them over. Why? Because he wants to include us, nay, insists, (much as V from "V for Vendetta") says, if you're looking for the root of the problem, you need look only as far as the nearest mirror. Not that he blames, he merely suggests that if we really want a solution, we cannot just wait for a savior, instead we all must take up the reigns and begin, inch by inch, to take back our democracy. That starts by electing a man who doesn't see the presidency as the culminating step of his ambition, or his secret-society right, but as something that has to be done. And dad-gummit, if not by him then by who else? If not by us then by whom?

It was pretty incredible. This was the day before he released his numbers showing he'd rocketed past everyone else in money raised, and not only in dollars but by far in number of donors. Exciting stuff. He's really building some momentum here. I think he's got a great chance of winning Iowa and new Hampsire (See this article, from the Washington Post). And if he does that, then I think its a cakewalk to win the election in one of the biggest landslides in history. Especially since the republicans can't seem to do anything right at the moment, and don't seem keen to change tack at all.

Anyway, God only knows when the next time I post will be. But in the mean time keep stumping and join mybarackobama.com. Oh, and I've had a couple requests for the neat art that lines the sides of this page, unfortunately, the person who was planning to help get this stuff printed has decided to go with the national stuff only. If anyone has any leads on printers who can do one-off stickers and buttons and stuff, please let me know as I'd like to get a couple of these made for myself too. I'm going to experiment with the work printer here and see if maybe I can buy some paper and do a couple. If you see any on the street or on cars, just ask people where they got 'em.
Keep Hoping!