Last night I experienced an Obama Speech. I use the term "experienced" because his rally and speech have the weight of a huge event. Not a spectacle, like a Flaming Lips show, but something that is more of a movement.
I attended the speech with my friends, Justin Nardy and Justin McCrady. We started our journey in downtown area of Columbia. McCrady met this guy Marquis, while walking up tenth street. Marquis joined us for the speech. McCrady had never met him before, but to give you a bit of a description here, Marquis had bandages on both arms from either selling plasma or getting some intense medical testing done. He was a friendly enough fella, but it was just odd to have someone join the crew from literally out of nowhere.
We got in the Obama line on University Ave. And followed this nearly mile long line all the way to the center of campus. Our highlight was watching the Obama motorcade drive by. I of course was too busy trying to get a picture that I missed Mr. Obama waving as he rode by. By this point we lost Marquis.
As you can see the iPhone + Me + fast moving motorcade = that stellar looking pic. So after an hour and half in line Justin, Justin, and I made it to the check in point, just as Mr. Obama spoke. We stood in the very darkened back of the quad 50 feet behind this huge sign that said "Missouri for Change" watching his speech on a huge video screen. Again this wasn't about getting the best seat in the house, it was really about being present for a once in a generation type of event.Now the speech he gave is the same one he has been giving, so I was already familiar with some of his talking points, "Socialist? because I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich in kindergarten" and "McCain was riding shotgun with Bush on the economy" etc. But again to be present for it, minus the pundits, minus the news logo on the bottom right screen, minus the ticker, was actually inspiring. And I am not using that word in an over dramatic fashion. They are estimating that 40,000 people were there to see him speak. And not to sound too much like a Sensitive New Age Guy, but there was a positive energy surrounding this rally. I just hope that these people show up to the polls and vote.
As we get closer to the day of the election, my anxiety is on high. So I am going to do my best to stay away from television news, website news, news news, etc. Just put my head down and run full speed to Tuesday.
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