President Obama appeared Friday, October 16, 2009 at the Texas A & M University ("TAMU") campus, sharing a stage with former President George H.W. Bush and Department of Defense Secretary (and former TAMU President) Robert Gates. The topic of President Obama’s 22 minute speech was volunteerism.
Although Former President Bush expressed his view that Obama’s appearance was non-partisan, around 1000 protesters appeared near the event. This was substantially less than the 5000 expected. Most were not from the area. TAMU student’s however showed a surprising sense of irony and humor regarding these protesters.
The Bryan College Station Eagle reports in their Saturday October 17, 2009 edition on the protesters, leading with the story with several TAMU students who were in the same area as protesters:
"'We wanted to exploit the irony of an irrelevant protest' said [Kelsey] Berger, a junior biological and agricultural engineering major. '...We are nationally famous for our community service, and he was here to highlight what we’ve done.'"
Berger and her friends were amongst the "about" 1000 protesters. The protesters walked around in various grab and signs. According to The Eagle story those included:
"A Grim Reaper and a guy in a doctor’s suit wearing an Obama mask warning about the consequences of Obama’s health care plan. Several dozen homemade signs and flags featuring assault rifles over the words, ‘Come and Take It’ flapped over the crowd along with the images of Obama with a Hitler mustache.
‘I dislike Obama but he’s not like Hitler’, said Daniel Crocker, a Binn College student who joined the Reaper. ‘This gives us a chance to tell him what we think about his polices'".
The most interesting of the comments from protesters was a man who travelled with 20 others from, of all places, Austin. Allen Davis, a 67 years old, described himself to The Eagle as "A pissed-off senior". According to Davis, he left the Republican Party after it nominated John McCain as a presidential candidate. Davis told The Eagle that although he still voted for McCain, (and I am not making this up) he was:
"Secretly hoping that McCain would be sworn in and then have a heart attack and die."
But it was TAMU student Berger and her group which injected much needed irony and humor into this rather angry and repressed group:
‘"The 20 year old's sign was a bit more irreverent : 'Kanye’s a Jackass' ... It was flanked by her friends’ signs, Andrew Contreras’ 'Toy Story 2 was Okay’ and Justin Ray’s ‘Make Awkward Sexual Advances....Not War’".
Following Obama’s speech, he, former President Bush and Defense Secretary Gates visited Duncan Dining Center, where about 1,800 members or the TAMU Corps of Cadets and some other student leaders were eating dinner.
I am here to say how proud I am." Obama said "Your commander in chief draws inspiration from you. And now I’m gonna shake as many hands as I can."
The TAMU students were elated.
"Everyone was clapping and applauding", said Melinda Latas, a senior sociology major. "They were all so excited and everyone was just pushing. It was like a surreal experience. He got within two or three feet of me.
Maybe there is hope here after all.