My experience at the Dallas Obama Rally - over 17,000 strong on a WEDNESDAY MORNING

[powergirl]

My 13 year old son and I went to the Dallas Obama Rally today. I let my son skip school so he could have a rare opportunity to see the most dynamic presidential candidate of our generation. My husband had to miss b/c he was out of town for business. We arrived at Reunion Arena (for the none Dallasites - it's next to the "Big Ball" in the Dallas skyline) at 10:30 A.M.. We waited in line for 2 hours and the arena was full to capacity! While waiting in line, we were fortunate enough to see the Obama motorcade arrive. We were positioned to see Obama waiving at the crowds from his black SUV. There were probably 20 motorcycle cops that escorted him.

The introduction was by former Dallas mayor and past Democratic Senatorial Candidate, Ron Kirk. Then Emmitt Smith made some brief statements in support of Obama. The Obama volunteers ran out of signs. They said they could not keep up with the demand. "They could not print the signs fast enough." When Obama took the stage, the crowd went wild. He was able to capture us all with his words of optimism and hope. He did not use a teleprompter or notes. The secret service surrounded the platform on which Obama stood. A sad but necessary comment on the state of our society. But the secret service proved to be no distraction to Obama's striking presence. My son and I were literally moved to tears by the fact that we are so close to getting the Republicans out of office. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I am so glad that I, and especially my son could be there.


PICTURES ARE BACK!!

Here are pictures from the Obama website that show the Dallas rally

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/pt/slideshows/2008/02/pho0220_obama/

[Metric System]

1. Did he heal anyone?

[Johnny__Motown]

2. at least he didn't make anyone's ears bleed (unlike Hillary)

[Horse with no Name]

6. I hate snakes.

:shudder:

[Renew Deal]

7. Yes

Former Hillary Supporters

[Tresalisa]

17. ...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Tarheel_Dem]

26. Bleachers...you're on fire tonight!

:rofl:

[MadBadger]

9. Scum

[Indenturedebtor]

24. LOL

"Did he heal anyone?"

Posted by MetricSystem

No - he spent the entire event bashing his Dem opponent, beaming a fake smile, and bobbing his head.


----------

Thanks alot for sharing!

[SoxFan]

25. Clap, Clap, Point, Point

[woolldog]

29. Nod. Nod.

[BringBigDogBack]

41. Ha!

[Raine]

30. Yes the country...

once he becomes President. :thumbsup:

[Jensen]

39. Ding, Ding, Ding...We have a winner!

:thumbsup: :yourock:

[krkaufman]

33. Ah, another Hillary Hater. Or do you go by Haters for Hillary?

Sorry. Just wanna get the terminology right.

[grantcart]

38. did you stay up all night to come up with that?

[grace0418]

42. Oh for cliff's sake.

Give it a rest will ya?

[Coexist]

3. nice story!

it won't let me see the pics, though.

[AtomicKitten]

4. Can't access your photos at the link but would love to see them!

thanks for reporting on this ... my son and I saw Obama in SF and it was a raucous event!

[AtomicKitten]

13. thanks for fixing the photo link

Wonderful pics! My son bounced my digital camera at the Obama event and mine turned out crap.

[tabatha]

5. Thanks for that report.

But, the photo links don't work.

[tammywammy]

8. Hey, we were probably close together!

I saw the motorcade go by too, there were 27 motorcycles leading him, this guy next to me counted.

I got a picture of him going by.

[powergirl]

19. I knew there were a lot of motorcycles . .

I'm glad someone counted them. My neighbor - who also went - got a picture of the motorcade. When she sends it to me, I can email it to you. She got a picture of Obama waiving from the SUV. :)

[tammywammy]

20. I was in the parking garage still

The part of the line that's near the wall out to go outside. I'm getting the pictures developed tomorrow, hopefully they come out okay. I was up on the 2nd tier inside like halfway up, so the pictures are gonna be of a teeny tiny little Obama. lol.

[powergirl]

22. I was on the 2nd tier also

I bought a new camera yesterday, for the occasion, b/c I broke my old camera. I was able to get a little zoom on the pics. I was in the parking garage too. So, we probably were right next to each other. It's a small world!

[tammywammy]

23. Funny!

I just got a little disposable camera yesterday, so no zoom.

[zulchzulu]

10. That is so cool! K&R n/t

[FrenchieCat]

11. Great story......It appears that you and your son realize that you are

part of the making of history.

That is a great thing!

:hi:

[Yael]

12. Thanks for the report!

:woohoo:

[blogslut]

14. Look at those lines

Now I kinda miss that I don't live in Dallas anymore.

:)

[Thrill]

15. Does pictures are amazing

[candice]

16. Didn't read from a teleprompter as usual? Has he memorized his stump speech?

Any specific content you remember that you can impart?

[powergirl]

21. I remember the high points - it was noisy in there

1. Bring the troops home from Iraq
2. Intervene and help the Darfur crisis - I think that is why he gets to use Bono music at his rallies b/c he supports Bono's interest in Darfur
3. Raise minimum wage on a regular basis
4. Implement a health care program for all Americans by the end of his first term as president


I'll probably remember more tomorrow but I am tired tonight!

[krkaufman]

37. Whole speech can be viewed here...

http://www.wfaa.com/video/index.html?nvid=219960

(I'm having to watch it via IE; Firefox browser isn't playing well w/ the website.)

[Scurrilous]

18. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Tarheel_Dem]

27. those pics are amazing, thanks for sharing (eom)

[VotesForWomen]

28. were they handing out free kool-aide? nt

[Raine]

31. They ran out...

it was all used up at Hillary's rallies.

[krkaufman]

32. Umm... I hope this isn't offsides, but I'm curious about the photos in that slideshow.

Is there a reason that the crowd close-ups only show African-Americans? Was the crowd all or mostly African-American, or did the Dallas paper just choose to represent it that way in the photos?

[tammywammy]

34. It was a very mixed crowd

[krkaufman]

35. sigh... perhaps I'm still a bit too cynical. n/t

[powergirl]

43. The photos from the Dallas News were of the floor crowd

The people near Obama's platform were primarily African American. It just worked out that way. And the Dallas news pics are the close up variety. The breakdown of the folks there was about 50% Anglo/White, 25% African American, and 25% Latino. That's just a generalization based on my view. It was a lot of fun and everybody was nice. :)

[krkaufman]

47. Ok. Thanks for the info. I'll dial-down the cynicism a notch. n/t

[GarbagemanLB]

36. any news on early voting?

[llm]

40. good experience

I have a feeling one day of missed school wouldn't matter compared to an "in person" learning experience like seeing a rally firsthand.

[book_worm]

44. Excellent report

[Lisa0825]

45. Sounds like a great rally! I have pics from his stop in Houston:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=388&topic_id=2739&mesg_id=2739

[powergirl]

46. OUTSTANDING photographs

Those are great and make me smile! I'm originally from Houston - I still have family there. My Dad lives in Galveston County and he is voting for the Obominator (even though he's a Republican). Even he is swept up by all of this!!