I saw Barack Obama in Portland Today (somewhat)

Oregone

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun May-18-08 11:17 PM
Original message

I saw Barack Obama in Portland Today (somewhat)

We arrived in Portland about 3 hours early, parking at PSU. As we walked down to the Waterfront, we were stunned at the empty car garages and absence of people (and somewhat confused). We noticed a flyer and confirmed we were in fact headed to the proper location. We finally saw a line, about two blocks long (at which point we were properly dismayed). But to our surprise, that was the line for people who allready had tickets (probably local staffers). We were advised to stand in the other, and we headed in that direction (a block away).

But the normal line (thick as a sidewalk), was not merely 2 blocks long. We raced to find the end, from one block to the next, as it snaked its way through Portland. Our hopes were dashed at each corner, as we saw the line go so far as to dissapear from sight. It was something to behold. And unfortunately, that line was growing by the minute as it wound its way through the Portland streets. After a long walk, we found the "end" of the line (at that time), which was ironically in the middle of the PSU campus, about 50 yards from our parked car. Had we arrived just a bit later, we could have directly found the end of the line we spent about 45 minutes searching for (which wasn't there when we first showed).

So three hours later from that point, in the hot sun (85-90+), and surrounded by tired but excited people (who were predominately white, age 20 to 50), we finally approached the gates. Unfortunately, the line led nowhere, as the grounds were full and the overflow was full, and any extra area to stand was full. And to top it all off, Obama was allready in the midst of his speech. We were caught in a confused crowd of people aimlessly milling around, not knowing wxactly where they were going. We saw several throngs of people charge and scale the metal barriers to fill in any space they could on the grass that was clearing off. It was incredible to behold the amount of people...the pictures do it no justice.

We finally hopped a fence and headed out on the hillside, where we spotted Obama across the park (a tiny blurred image of him afar). The crowd was energized and responding in a resounding roar. And although we only were able to watch for 10 minutes before he finished climatically, we were able to witness the pure energy and excitement from the people around. Its definately not fake, or just positive press. People were responding and being engaged. The same type people we stood amongst for 3 hours and talked with intellectually (In otherwords, it simply wasn't a collection of Kool-aid drinkers).

This was, from what I conceive, the epitome of a political rally. There was hope, awareness, energy and excitement. Crowds of people pulsed with anticipation, hanging on his every word. I was impressed, more than anything, by how people were responding. Ive seen him talk, on TV, but its another things to see that massive collection of bodies together in unisom.

As a note and a side, in terms of his speech (what I heard of it), it was the first time I heard him say he means to provide "Universal Health Care". I thought this was intresting (though I doubt he is thinking single payer).