Raise a Glass to the Tired Campaigners (great Obama pic within)

[WilliamPitt]

Raise a Glass to the Tired Campaigners
By Michael Powell
The New York Times

May 6, 2008, 7:40 pm

In the last hours of yet another election day — the 42nd? The 44th? Did I miss the trip to American Samoa? The Obama campaign turned to drink in North Carolina.

Barack Obama spent half an hour or so working the neighborhood of Downtown Raleigh, and more to the point a bar called The Raleigh Times (Want a metaphor for our business? This was the site of the now-departed Raleigh Times. No inebriated editor types immediately visible). He walked in, hand in hand with Michelle; she was more or less immediately handed a pint of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Mr. Obama found himself momentarily beerless. As the primary season has semi-bizarrely centered of late on his eating and drinking (he stands accused of doing too little of either), he moved quickly.

“Where’s my beer?” he asked, loud enough for the reporters to hear. What’s your pleasure, Mr. Candidate? He eyed an array of mighty fine micro brews on tap, from the loverly amber Maharaja IPA to the “naturally cloudy” Blanche Bruxelles. He zeroed in on the mass market. “PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon, for the unitiated),” he said.

An Illinois man recently asked to be buried in a casket in the shape of a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, but I digress. Mr. Obama held up the pint, said “Cheers!” and quickly took a sip, then another, then another. Having established he was a sport — albeit not an inebriated one — he set to working the crowd.

He talked the economy with a banker and a business woman and then turned to the very perky Allison Humphries, who wore an Obama button. She was “in sales” and set about trying to convince him to order up a beautiful set of counter-tops for the White House. What kind do they have at the White House, she asked. Mr. Obama squinted at her, and shrugged. “I really don’t know what kind of countertops we have there,” he said. “That’s waaaaay out of my depth.”

He moved away; she shook her head. “He thinks I’m kidding …”

More: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/raise-a-glass-to-the-tired-campaigners/

[VolcanoJen]

1. Fantastic!!!!!

:dem:

[Shakespeare]

2. I was keeping an eye out for you tonight!!

I'm a former Edwards supporter, but I've so enjoyed your posts as you shared your volunteer experience with us from the Obama campaign. I know you've worked your butt off, worked your heart out, and you rightly must feel ecstatic tonight. A big :toast: to you!!!

:pals:

[GetTheRightVote]

3. I love it and will save it for the memories, Go Obama Go !!!

[byronius]

4. K. And. R.

President Barack Obama.

[Dammit Ann]

5. Holy God. I just THOUGHT I loved him.

Wait til my husband sees this. He will be unstoppable.

Edited to mention that my drink of choice is PBR tonight. Go figure.

[Pirate Smile]

6. More:

"Michelle meanwhile works the end of the bar, talking policy with all comers. The candidate moves outside, a crowd pressing in. He signs a few more autographs for some little girls, greeting each as “Hi sweetie.” Then he calls for “Mich”, his wife, and they walk into a print shop where, as it happens, the chief product is silk screen paintings of Barack Obama.

“You should get one for your office,” Michelle Obama tells him.

Mr. Obama demurs. He couldn’t have his own image in his own office, he says. “Why don’t you get one for your office?”
Mrs. Obama, who was a hospital executive before she resigned at the beginning of the presidential race began, turns and looks at him and offers a marital moment familiar to any sentient and semi honest middle aged couple.

“I don’t have an office,” she reminds him. “I’m working for you.”

Oh. "

[BlueCaliDem]

23. Oh god how I love our soon-to-be First Couple! Thanks for this! eom

[zulchzulu]

7. Thanks Will!

Get over to Madison sometime on a Saturday while we do the Obama table and then head over to the Irish pub across the street for a few after that. You'll have a good story...

[newmajority]

8. "Raise your glass to the hard working people......"

SALT OF THE EARTH
M. Jagger/K. Richards)

Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let's drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

And when I search a faceless crowd
A swirling mass of gray and black and white
They don't look real to me
In fact, they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people
Let's drink to the uncounted heads
Let's think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio

And when I look in the faceless crowd
A swirling mass of grays and black and white
They don't look real to me
Or don't they look so strange

Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth

Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the two thousand million
Let's think of the humble of birth

Lets raise our drink
To the salt of the earth
Lets raise our drink
To the salt of the earth.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGO-YrfLsPQ

[Guaranteed]

9. Do you think those folks realize they're looking at, standing next to, our next President? nt

[WilliamPitt]

12. I hope so

...so they can tell their grandchildren about being present and involved in one of many moments comprisiong the story of our better days to come.

[Dammit Ann]

10. BTW...

:beer: :toast: :kick:

[TragedyandHope]

11. Thanks for the story and pic!

:kick:

[babylonsister]

13. Ha! Pabst's was insinuated, but thanks for the story. nt

[Cha]

14. Great pic that captures

the essence of another primary fought hard by Obamaicans!

[jgraz]

15. Wait... where's his shot of Crown Royal??

Fucking elitist...


:P

[Kaleko]

16. Good to see that you're not completely cynical and doomsday-hardened yet

...given everything I think you know.

Toasty feeling to know that Obama is our nominee, huh?

May it last for at least another day :toast:


and a rec.

[OzarkDem]

17. Um, no thanks

Never been a fan of empty, celebrity candidates. But then I don't watch American Idol, either.

[Dammit Ann]

18. Empty AND elitist, man, you have changed my mind.

I will no longer drink Pabst Blue Ribbon. Such a pansy beer anyway, what was I thinking? What time does American Idol start? It's all I can think about these days...

[akbacchus_BC]

19. Hi, American Idol is not my forte either, but pretty soon, we have

to unite. Are you willing?

[eridani]

20. Empty candidates spend their money on organizers and training--

--instead of on consultants? On what planet?

[AllentownJake]

22. Being Gracious

Goes both ways...

You guys have 2 days to come to terms than the gloves are off and I defend the democratic nominee for President of the US

[blm]

25. Closed Government Democrats attract you more - we get it and will continue to fight that wing of the

party where Clintons, Penns, Carvilles, and Liebermans of the party will no longer dictate the direction of our party.

[mhoran]

28. Yeah...

...those obamites sure are a nasty lot, eh? With their insulting, mean-spirited postings.

[Cha]

29. "Obamites"? That's

Obamacians to you, bub! :)

[mhoran]

30. There they go again

I'm sure bub stands for something awful...

Big, ugly baby?

Boring, underacheiving bastard?

Bossy umbrella breaker?

I just know it must be something horrible!

[Cha]

34. I'll tell ya one thing..I've never used it before..

it just came out. It could mean anything..bub. I kinda like it:P

[mhoran]

35. You're under the spell...

...of the Pabst Blue Ribbon.

[Cha]

36. Or

:smoke: I keed.

[Coexist]

21. .

[olkaz]

24. PBR: Now that's an endearing choice.

Seriously, if there is a more "working class" beer, I'd like to know what it is.

[unapatriciated]

26. He's plagiarizing - Clinton drank a beer first...

:sarcasm:

[FlyingSquirrel]

27. Beer you can Xerox!

;)

[Condem]

31. To the Salt of the Earth!

[NC_Nurse]

32. Wonderful. I watched his speech in a bar with all the Chapel Hill volunteers.

It felt so good to have all our hard work pay off. :toast:

[dogday]

33. I will drink to both candidates because I think they both deserve it..

I am all for Democrats getting to the white house one way or the other....