I was up very early this morning, and along with one of my sons and my husband, we made the trek into Minneapolis to see our POTUS.
I was fired up and ready to go!
We finally got the car parked in a ramp that gouged us $13 for parking. We figured that it was a very close walk to the Target Center and paying the $13 at the Macy's ramp was better than driving around looking for a better deal. It was purely coincidental that we encountered several "better deals" on our short walk to the event. Oh well, we were planning on spending a bit of money today, so that was that.
When we got near the Target center, the line was already very long and snaked around the buildings downtown. No one could seem to give us a definitive answer as to where the end of the line was. We found a clear spot, and were surprised to learn later on that we were near the front of the line. A lot of people around us were in the same situation and happy to find that we'd be one of the first groups let in.
A few pictures from the morning...
All of the volunteers lining up to go through security.
The event wouldn't be complete without having to listen to a street preacher (or four) barking the Bible. Do they know nothing about acoustics? We were pretty close to him and all I heard was barking with the exception of the occasional words that I could understand.
There were a couple of strange signs, and overall a very enthusiastic crowd. I think we saw five protesters all morning.
We had the good fortune to be in line with a man that just started teaching at the U of M in the History department. It was fun chatting with someone working on his Ph.D. in history while history was in the making. Unfortunately, after we got through security we lost track of him. We wish him well in his new Minnesota home!
We were in the first group to be let in. The Target Center was pretty empty.
Here was the setup for the press.
We still had over a two hour wait for our POTUS, but the venue was filling up in a very orderly fashion.
Pretty soon, we had a full house.
The lights dimmed with about an hour left to wait, and the crowd started getting fired up!
The big screen in the center showed live coverage of the POTUS arriving at the airport, and the crowd went wild!
They passed out small American flags and the crowd kept themselves busy by keeping "the wave" going around and around and around the stadium. The Target Center maintained its standard of excellence for sound quality when the microphone failed during the Pledge of Allegience and the singing of the national anthem. (No worries...from my past experience at this particular venue, it only seems to fail during musical portions of any given event.:-P)
Finally, Kathleen Sebelius stepped up on center stage and got the crowd warmed up.
Then... there was the awkward wait. They were all on Air Force One together, so it was curious that there was a delay. The music started up over the loudspeaker again. I was expecting that maybe Al Franken or Amy Klobuchar would have had a few words. I was really surprised that R. T. Rybak didn't say anything, considering he is the mayor of Minneapolis and he's making a bid for Governor. President Obama mentioned that R.T. was one of the first in the "draft Obama" crowd at the beginning of his presidential campaign. An introduction from him would have been a whole lot nicer than listening to the same music over again. I've never known a politician that didn't take advantage of a captive audience.
Once the POTUS was introduced over the P.A. system, all of that was quickly forgotten.
The Biggest Obama Fan in the world was near the front. That man stands 7'8"! It was really nice that Obama acknowledged him.
I was very happy to hear President Obama speak in even stronger language in favor of the public option than he did in his address to Congress.
He ended his speech with his "Fired up, Ready to go!" story. Very satisfying...