When I heard that John Kerry was coming to my home town to give a policy speach I was interested, but going meant taking a day off of work, and seating was going to be limited in the venue where it was to be given. I wasn't so interested in hearing about his policy ideas, I like to think that lurking around places like DailyKOS I've got a good handle on those.
What I wanted to see was the man in person, to get a sense of him, if you can in a personal appearance. Early this week the Kerry Campaign decided to hold a second rally on Mr. Kerry's arrival, open to many more people. I couldn't pass up the oppertunity. I stopped by the local campaign office and picked up tickets yesterday afternoon.
The local paper pegged the time of the candidate's arival at 8:00pm, with gates to the event opening at 7:30. I should have known better. We did get good parking by arriving just before 7:00. Then we waited.
To be honest I was surprised by the number of people that were coming. Parking wasn't much of a problem, other than there being no organization to it. The lines started moving at around 8:00 pm. I was impressed with the Uniformed Secret Service. They really did a good job of getting people through metal detectors and wanding them quickly. Much better than the TSA, which I've had to deal with in the last few months.
The rally was in a hanger, people dribbled in until we were full. Having gotten my tickets relatively early my wife and I took a spot 5 or 6 rows of people back from the stage, nearely center.
8:30 passed. 9:00 passed. We got a few speaches from local state house candidates. We got a speach from Mrs. Vilsack, the 1st lady of Iowa. 9:30 passed. Around 10:00 Big John made his presence known.
The crowd was enthusiastic, even after standing around for 3 hours. I have to say I felt a bit detached from the frenzy around me. I hadn't really come to show support as much as get to see this man who could be our next president, to look him in the eye and perhaps see what he was made of.
Kerry's stump speach seemed... energizing, but not particularly deep. That's a good thing I think. I intellectualize a bit too much at times. Big John was breaking things down into bite sized chunks for the populace. It worked. Whoever said that this man pontificates on the stump must have been watching an imposter.
What I saw tonight was a man telling his supporters what his plans are. We really got hit with the 'I have a plan' meme in the debates. I was pleased to see Kerry adding a bit of flesh to the promises. From alternative fuels to engagement with allies Kerry filled out the 'I have a plan' ideas a bit.
The thing that struck me most though as I watched the candidate in a strange Michael Mann-ish moment of clarity when all of the chearing seemed a detached din, when my world focused down to one face talking to plain folk was this: John Kerry is just a man.
It may not seem like much. It may seem to make light of what hope this man stands for, but for me, it was a moment of epiphany. You can listen to spin, you can read the blogs, you can talk over the watercooler, but at that moment I realized that John Kerry was nothing more than any of the rest of us, just a guy trying to do the best that he could with what he had.
I'm glad that I went to see him. I won't remember much of what he said. I will remember that connection though, that moment of Zen when I looked into John Kerry's eyes and saw someone who is just like me, just like all of us. I've believed in his policies for months now. Today I believe in the man.