What a beautiful Saturday in New York! I decided to take some time out from what has to be the loveliest Saturday we have had all year to go listen to Obama's speech at Al Sharpton's National Action Network convention.
Read more below...
Forgive me for this anecdotal description of the goings on. I didn't take any journalism classes in college, so please bear with me.
I arrived at the tail end of Kucinich's speech. The crowd seemed bored, but applauded his applause lines. He passed next to me on the way out. I noticed how incredibly small he is, compared to me (i'm 6ft2, 220lbs.). After he left, Rev. Al shook down the small crowd for some dough. "Rev. Al needs some money!" he said. First he called for $100 bills, then $50s, then the $20s. He probably left with around $3000 by my observation. I didn't give.
Next we were moved into a much larger adjacent room to wait for Obama. At this point, the crowd was mostly African-American, older civil rights activist types. Lots of grey hairs. Local news cameras were already waiting as we filed in. The divider between the two rooms was removed, and many more chairs were brought in.
First, I noticed a large influx of youngish black professionals like myself. Blackberries hummed. I sat next to a GORGEOUS thirty-something Puerto Rican woman who was a reporter for a Hamptons lifestyle magazine. Next, the national press came. One of them was very rude to an old black lady sitting in front of me. This jerk had the nerve to lean his portable ladder up against her while he gathered his camera. I stood up, removed it, and told him to mind his manners.
Finally, lot of very diverse people who were outside the building waiting to get in. I was lucky..my 11:00 arrival secured me a prime seat near the front. But as I looked around, I noticed the diverse faces of the city I love: old Jewish ladies, some delivery guy types, Asian-Americans and the younger Manhattan-type white crowd. The whole place started to look like urban America.
I took a few notes on the things I overheard as I moved around:
"You didn't know Hillary voted for the war? She did!"
"I don't think he's gonna win. They're gonna shoot him just like they always do." (that made me uncomfortable)
"Man, there are like...double the people that were here yesterday. Ive been here all week and this is way way different."
"What do you think about Hillary putting him as Vice President?"
"Wheres his wife? Shes fantastic!"
"I think she did well yesterday. She was good." (member of the press)
"I didn't see Edwards. I had to work." (I thought it was interesting how Sharpton put Obama as final speaker, on a Saturday, the last day of the convention.)
"Its really hot in here."
Obama gave a standard stump speech, which the crowd liked. Shouts of "O-BA-MA" were frequent. He did slip up once..he said "Urban Action Network" instead of "National", but the crowd corrected him. I'm sure that will be covered here by others.
Finally, on his way out I managed to get in a handshake. We exchanged smiles. He and I are the same height so we met eye to eye. Once outside on the street, there was a small crowd of tourists: really white bread Iowa looking types. They screamed and waved and he stopped for a brief chat.
Now, I'm off to Prospect Park for some horseback! Peace!