I stayed in Saturday night and searched for a live feed of Bernie speaking, pre-caucus to a University of Iowa audience along with musical guests befitting a college crowd. Normally I’d scour the YouTube videos after the fact, but I was intrigued to see Bernie addressing a predominantly young crowd in a setting with a concert vibe. The feed I found had pixelated video but decent sound and, ultimately, did not disappoint. I woke up this morning still thinking about it, sought out a better video copy, and watched it again. It still did not disappoint. Admittedly I’m a Bernie fan from before all the talks about a presidential run, but I like to think I keep my objectivity when looking at what a candidate does and if it works or not. This event for Bernie, worked.
I wrote a couch review, take-out coney dogs and root beer in hand, thinking I would jot something down for a quick social media post. The opening act was a little rough around the edges but genuine. I never did catch their name but at one point they called themselves the Sandrews Sisters, which totally fit their very catchy last song, a take on The Chordettes “Mr. Sandman” entitled, appropriately enough, “Mr. Sanders”. Worth a listen but be forewarned, you will be humming it the rest of the day.
The twin guys that spoke between acts were odd but maybe appropriate, in a Beavis and Butthead or Cheech and Chong sort of way, for college kids and a demographic of voters who disengaged or never started with politics. They were followed by Josh Hutcherson, sporting his Bernie tee, who was a nice counterbalance and surprised me with his genuine enthusiasm for Bernie; it’s just too bad nobody in the crowd knew him (#sarcasm #HungerGames #lol). Being a father of a teenage girl, I did know who he was but not a lot about him. He came across like he just walked off campus himself, not off a movie set, which was commendable. I also found out he is putting his own brother through college; something he used as an example for free tuition in that not everyone is so fortunate to have this opportunity he can give his brother.
Mark Foster of Foster the People fame talked and sang next. He related what brought him to support Bernie, “the truth”, which was ultimately why he endorsed Bernie and canvassed (for the first time) for him in Des Moines the day prior. I imagine his story resonates with so many other people of all ages, with and without recording contracts. If he had canvassed me, I would not have known him in person but would have still remembered him, not for his musical talents, but for his infectious enthusiasm for Bernie’s cause.
Veteran civil rights activist and academic Cornel West spoke next. Well, “spoke” is far too passive for the impassioned speech he gave. Listening to Cornel, I always get the raucous excited feeling inside that I am about to see a monster truck rally with a fire-spewing vehicle beast about to crush a line of old cars, rolled into the desire to march on Washington with total belief in a righteous cause. Why hasn’t someone bottled this man yet? It would be my breakfast of choice. He and Bernie make a wild haired pairing that I never would have put together on my own. When Bernie gave a special thanks at the beginning of his speech to “my brother Cornel West” you believe him, not in a slang way, but in a “What dish did Cornel bring to Thanksgiving dinner?” way.
Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig was the anchor musical talent of the night and you could tell how sincere he was about Bernie and especially the political revolution Bernie is spearheading. This was the indie rock group’s first performance in nearly two years and was certainly a coup for a Bernie rally, especially with a college age demographic. Ezra, almost poetically, touched on firsts in his introduction to Bernie.
“This is the first time that I think that any of us has really come out to play music to support a candidate. And maybe for some of you guys it’s the fist time you’ve come to a rally, the first time you’ve gotten excited about somebody, and I think we all know the reason why. It’s that this is a once in a lifetime candidate.”
As evidenced in Ezra’s words, the way in which Bernie resonates with people, of all ages and camps, thematically falls together into a platform of unprecedented firsts and hopes in a campaign that Madison Avenue could only dream of creating. Another observance, Vampire Weekend was joined on stage by the University of Iowa Hawkapellas a capella group, which lent a nice sincerity to their performance as “one of us” and not untouchable superstars; which I think unintentionally echoed in an organic way, one of Bernie’s hashtag memes #NotMeUs very effectively.
The main event, Bernie's speech, was a mix of his standard talking points — if you do not know them by now, go spend a few moments on YouTube — because I am not going to touch on all of them in depth here. I will point out some things that really stuck with me watching Bernie at this venue. From his first words, “Whoa, there’s a lot of people here!”, there was more humor and caring than I have heard in one talk previously. Listening to Bernie at this rally was like listening to your favorite uncle or grandfather; the cool one who taught you lessons built on experience but still let you get away with mischievous shenanigans so long as you did not harm anyone. This was the Bernie I can imagine talking to the country in an informal fireside chat. Bernie talking about marijuana to a college crowd was humorous, in the best of ways, and he balanced talking about the drug, currently questioned as to it’s identification as a controlled substance in the Federal Controlled Substance Act, with a severe condemnation of another controlled substance, heroin, without sounding preachy; hard to do for an older white guy in a suit, even without a tie. Admittedly this was an easy win with a college crowd, but in inimitable Bernie style, it was 100% honest in belief and delivery. He wove the marijuana topic into an example of how a person arrested for possession, most likely young and as he backed up with statistics, unfairly predominantly black, would end up with a criminal record whereas the criminals on Wall Street walked away and continue to walk away without prosecution. Very elegantly he touched on drugs, crime, Wall Street, and fair justice in a quick few minutes. He transitioned easily to the topics of climate change, women’s bodies, pay equity, racial and sexual prejudice, and healthcare. At every turn, the crowd was responsive with cheers and chants of “Bernie! Bernie!” and more excited to hear Bernie speak than they were to hear the musical acts sing. Part of Bernie’s wrap-up was to tell the younger crowd that the powers that be did not expect them to go to the polls and he asked how they would like to prove the pundits dumb. He hammered home the point that they could all truly make a difference and that the revolution would be starting in Iowa. With the ever increasing cheers, I truly believed the Iowa youth in the room were going to caucus for Bernie come Monday - and moreover, their enthusiasm led me to believe they would even convince other disengaged friends to go with them. The campaign’s purpose was to spread the Bernie word, generate excitement, and get — especially young — voters to caucus. I think we will see come Monday that this event was an unqualified success toward those goals.
Lastly, when Bernie finished and walked off the stage, Ezra of Vampire Weekend said, “You know, we have to play one more for Bernie.” They played the song, “This Land is Your Land” and as I watched, I could see Bernie and his wife Jane off stage behind the Iowa Hawkapellas. Then, to my surprise, Bernie and crew walked up on stage and started singing too! At first, toward the back, but then he moved front and center and everyone from the evening, from the opening act to Josh, Mark, and Cornel, ended up on stage for the last verses. It looked to me like Ezra was surprised to see him come up behind him; but planned or impromptu, it does not matter because it was amazing.
I said at the beginning that I am a Bernie fan, but as a member of the jaded and formerly disengaged political electorate, I can not express enough how much I love this guy and the genuine hope and support he inspires. Good luck in the caucuses, Bernie!