Obama takes to the stage

Attended an Obama rally last Thursday evening at Washington Square Park.

Obviously because of the set-up of the event, he couldn't really go into detail about his plans should he become POTUS. Thus, it was the usual "I was one of the few Senators who voted against the war", "I'll get our men back from Iraq (care to give a fixed date?)", healthcare for all ("for the poor and the not-so-poor"), Bush sucks, etc. talking points. Oh, and there was of course a small jibe about "the Senator from New York." Heh. Poor Edwards who didn't merit any mention.

On a related note, I must rant about the event security setup, apparently done by the Secret Service. To get into the main area in front of the stage, everyone had to go through a metal detector, of which there were four of them. Yes, FOUR of them for the thousands of people.

So I got to the park at about 4.30pm, and queued for more than two hours until about 6.45pm, as the crowd inched ahead ever so slowly. By that time, I was maybe about 50 metres away from the metal detectors (positioned side-by-side in a line) and Obama was scheduled to come on stage at 7pm. So at this point (6.45pm), there were still a ton of people who hadn't got past security and who would not do so by 7 obviously.

So guess what they decided to do? They basically abandoned checking of people and just allowed everyone through! After most of us had been queuing for hours! They couldn't have decided that earlier? A lady next to me remarked sarcastically that they probably figured that any would-be bombers would probably have given up queuing by that time, hence the threat was gone. So, yeah, not so efficient.

Took this picture standing on a bench. The white tent in the background is where the metal detectors were. Yeah, from the relatively short distance away that I was, I still did not get to it in 2.5 hours.

To the sounds of Kanye West's Touch The Sky, Obama emerged to the cheers of the crowd. Somehow, it doesn't feel as cognitively dissonant as when I see our MPs doing hip-hop or whatever. Then again, the dude appears on the covers of GQ and Vibe, and even on the Tyra Banks (!?) show (Tyra and politics, now that's cognitively dissonant).

Departing the scene.

Anyway, it seems Obama hasn't much of a chance. Polls show Hilary is pulling away apparently. Can't wait for the race to heat up!