It's definitely October. The temperature barely topped 50 degrees, the campus of Michigan State University was decked out in green and white, and the leaves are changing. Speaking of change, the Agent of Change himself, Senator Barack Obama, descended upon Adams Field on the Michigan State campus for a rally this afternoon, rounding out a two-stop swing through the state.
This was my first Obama rally, and I was extremely impressed. Pictures and commentary below the fold...
First, some shout-outs: To Kevin Lewis at Obama for America for being responsive and more than accommodating, to the MSU College Dems and their volunteers for putting on an extremely good show, to Michigan Democratic Party Communications Director Liz Kerr for bailing me out at the last second, and to the High Priestess of Blogtopia, Julielyn Gibbons of Progress Michigan for making this happen for me.
ACCESSIBILITY:
Those of you who know me know that I have some physical issues that would generally preclude me from even attempting to take part in an event like this. I have issues with long hikes and lots of standing, and rallies like this generally involve lots of long hikes and lots of standing. It helps to have some cool friends, I guess, as I got a major hookup from Julielyn that made this all possible.
And to the crew at Obama for America and the MSU College Dems: YOU SERIOUSLY ROCK. From the minute I got dropped off at the entrance the message was clear: physically-challenged people are a welcome and important part of the Obama family. As I sat in line waiting for the gates to open, the MSU College Dems folks were gathered on the steps of the building next door for their pre-event briefing, and the guy in charge spent several minutes going over their instructions for physically-challenged folks and stressing the importance of our participation in the event.
I've never been to an event where physically-challenged people were so openly and warmly welcomed and catered to. The site team had put together an entire fenced-off area specifically for physically-challenged folks, right up close to the stage. They also created a special entrance complete with its own metal detector/security set up, and then they literally rolled out the carpet for us (although it was blue, not red) and made sure we got taken care of.
Whoever put that together gets major props and deserves a huge raise.
THE PRE-SHOW PARTY:
Let's face it: Democrats throw better parties than Republicans do. We had better music (Motown, Counting Crows, John Mayer, Phil Collins, lots of feel-good music with a message), better atmosphere (25,000 people screaming "Go Green! Go White!" and "Yes We Can!"), and just an all-around better experience than the funeral-like rallies the Republicans have.
Obama's speech was scheduled to start at 2:30, and they got the ball rolling at 1:30 with pre-show fesitivities.
First, an invocation:
The central message of the invocation was simple: for too long, too many people have been told "No, you can't." With God's help, YES WE CAN.
Then, the pledge of allegiance:
One of the best renditions of The Star-Spangled Banner that I've ever heard:
Then former State Senator Dianne Byrum took the stage. She's running on the Democratic ticket for the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, and she talked about how Michigan State is an integral part of our economy and our political process especially with their research into alternative energy, and how she'll fight for students and teachers when she's elected. She was joined by Diann Woodard, also running for the MSU Board of Trustees as a Democrat.
THE BIG SHOW:
As the appointed hour drew near, Senator Debbie Stabenow took the stage to introduce Senator Obama. She talked about how Senator Obama "gets it," how he understands that the heart of America is the middle class, and how he'll fight to make sure every one of us is taken care of. She also delivered the best zinger of the day: "When Barack Obama's sitting in his office in Chicago, he can actually look across the lake and SEE Michigan!"
As these things were happening, a plane was circling over Adams Field carrying a banner. For those of you not from around here, the other big race on our ballot this year is our Supreme Court. Our Supreme Court is currently a 5-2 Republican majority and the composition of the court hasn't changed in ten years. (For more, check out my diary at MichiganLiberal. Anyway, this year the Michigan Democratic Party has gotten serious and is trying to take out Chief Justice Cliff Taylor, who's up for re-election. The opponent is Wayne County Circuit Judge Diane Hathaway.
Then...I dunno. Some black guy. Senator Somethingorother. He talked about hope and change a lot. I wasn't really paying attention.
No, really, he's an amazing speaker. As I said, this was my first Obama rally. I knew what to expect, but I was still blown away. You can find copies and video of the speech online, but the bottom line is that he laid out a plan...a plan to recover the middle class, secure our energy future, bring back a sense of sanity (i.e. regulation) to Wall Street, to lower taxes for 95% of Americans, to wrest our environment back from the clutches of climate change, and recover our sense of humanity and our sense of decency in the wake of the tyranny of George W. Bush.
He's a funny guy, too. Some people on the side of the stage were waving frantically, and he half-joked about the possibility of someone having fainted. "Give them some room to breathe, get them some water. They'll be okay! And the next time you're going to come to a rally like this, eat something before you come!"
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
Security was tight, but I honestly expected it to be tighter. We had to go through a metal detector to get in, and I had to turn on all of my electronics to prove that they were what I said they were--cell phone, camera, and I forgot that I had my Flip video camera on me. But all in all it was smooth. They did what they had to do, but kept it mostly low-key.
I will say that as I was walking around, I noticed this strikingly beautiful (dare I say "cute") woman about my age (late 20s) walking around rocking spike heels, tailored pants and a really pretty mulberry-colored trench coat. She couldn't have been more than 5'3" and 110 pounds soaking wet. She looked sort of...out of place, but I couldn't get over how pretty and well-dressed she was. Then, as I watched her she put her hand on her hip, sort of moving her trench coat out of the way. BOOM...gigantic Secret Service badge on her hip. She's such a badass.
Anyway...my first Obama rally. Thoughts form the masses?