O. BA. MA. (4 comments)
Mel and I got to hear Barack Obama speak tonight. Well, sorta. because of the rain, his speech got moved indoors and we ended up in the overflow seating. The main presentation was held in a coffee shop attached to a church. The rest of us ended up in the sanctuary. There was a wireless microphone hooked up to the sound system for us to listen, but it flickered in and out and we missed a lot of what was said.
Obama did come in and give the rest of us an abbreviated version of his speech before he ran off to catch his plane, and I found that I agree with everyone else that he's an excellent speaker. I hadn't seen his address that opened the Democratic National Convention, so I asked the internet and found the official DNC video, audio and transcript. Quite the performance.
I'd never before gone to a political rally, and I found the audience to be amusing. From the guy behind us who yelled "down with Bush!" at four or five inopportune times to the girl up front who affirmed every point the speaker made with "uh huh" or "that's right" to the crazy girl in the front row who couldn't stop jumping and shaking, I found that the audience fit all the stereotypes I'd brought with me. It makes me think that there has probably been a piece on The Daily Show instructing people in the ways of being a good rally participant.
Coming up next time, ck writes an open letter to George Lucas.