I had an intimate lunch today with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Presidential hopeful Barack Obama...and about 400 of his closest friends. Come read what Barack had to say on the heels of the NH Primary.
Barack Obama held a private fundraiser in downtown Boston this afternoon. My rough math is that he raised between $250K to $500K from the event, not bad for a few hours work. Some random observations and thoughts. (I don't have a perfect memory, so I will be paraphrasing what Barack said).
- Lots of security - I saw a heavier than usual police presence in the entire city. At the event there were Massachusetts State troopers and Secret Service agents. When Barack and Governor Patrick were entering and leaving the room we were instructed to stay in our seats. It's all rather creepy, but I realize the necessity.
- Barack has deeper Massachusetts roots than I thought. He went to Harvard, and a bunch of his Harvard friends organized a New England Steering Committee for him. The warm-up speakers included a classmate of Barack's and of course Governor Deval Patrick. These two African-American men both have roots in the South side of Chicago, both attended Harvard, and both campaign on the themes of hope and change. I think they are twins separated at birth. For those of you who like Obama's speaking style you will LOVE Deval Patrick. Deval is, in my opinion, an even more inspirational speaker than Obama.
- Barack said he would be brief...blaming lack of sleep and a sore throat...and then talked for over half an hour. He did seem a little tired, not surprisingly. The beginning and end of his speech were great...but he rambled a little in the middle.
- Comments on Hilary - He said although it may sound like he is committing punditry, it really now is a 2 person race. Although he never mentioned Hillary by name, we knew who he was talking about. He said she is part of the dominant brand of Democrat for the last 20 years, that she is part of the entrenched Democratic establishment, and that she and all the other candidates have some good ideas.
- About his "loss" in New Hampshire - He was in a sense pleased and relieved by it. To keep it all in perspective, he pointed out that Iowa was less than a week ago, and that 2 weeks ago a 3 point loss to Hilary in NH would have been considered a good performance for him. So, don't believe the polls, the pundits etc. He also said he started to feel like Icarus, got a little too close to the sun and now it was time to come back to earth. He also said it is just as well that he came back down to earth now rather than later. Finally, he said this was bound to happen because making the type of change he represents is never easy, and there are entrenched interests who will always resist that type of change.
- Change vs. Experience - Change is not brought about by one person, but by gathering people together and inspiring them to make change happen. Many great American moments, the Moon program, Civil Rights, and the founding of the Republic itself were brought about by people had faith, a vision, and worked together to make that vision a reality. When Senator Clinton said during the debate on Sat. night that Obama was giving people false hope, he said he thought about JFK looking at the moon. Did he say, "gee that looks awfully far away". No, he inspired us to reach beyond ourselves to accomplish something great. The Founding Fathers, did they look at the Redcoats and think, "What spiffy uniforms, and what advanced weapons they have". No, they believed in their cause and worked together to found our country. Change is about wisdom, hope, inspiration, and judgment.
- Policy vs. Politics - Our country faces great problems that are only getting worse. Our political system is broken, it is incapable of addressing our problems because of partisanship and bickering. The best policies in the world will not bring about change because those policies will never be implemented because the political system is broken. Therefore, we need a new type of politics to bring about change. A politics that reaches out to all Americans, unites rather than divides people etc.
I met a number of other Obama supporters, including a lady at my table who identified herself as a Kossack, but would not tell me her handle (is that normal?). If you are reading this, you now know my handle :-).
All in all, an inspirational way to spend the afternoon. Yes folks, I have drunk the Kool-Aid. I believe this man has what it takes to fix what is wrong with America. Yes We Can....