Who Here Has Seen Obama Live?

[rucky]

Just making sure I'm not the only person in the world who hasn't yet.

[Deja Q]

1. I haven't, but I've seen him memorex on the TV dozens of times...

:hide:

[rucky]

4. Then vote, dammit!

so I'm not the only one.

Thanx!

[KSinTX]

45. I'm not crazy about crowds

so I begged off although invited to go when he was here in San Antonio.

[bunnies]

2. Seen him. Shook his hand. In a tiny NH venue.

It was fucking awesome!

[Debi]

18. fucking New Hampshire....

[bunnies]

27. (LMAO!) Fucking Iowa.

Bunch of white people.

[Debi]

41. That supported the Democratic nominee....

ahem....:evilgrin:

[bunnies]

46. oh. So its gonna be like that huh?!

You didnt have to deal with the tears thing! :grr: :rofl:

[Debi]

48. Well....

At least your state voted for Kerry in the 2004 General...:shrug:

[bunnies]

54. Barely. And I was shocked. But yeah, we did.

So there. :hi:

[TahitiNut]

28. As a Michigan voter .........

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[Debi]

40. I feel the same way every time I think of Carl Levin

:hi:

[Barack_America]

68. Why?

Do you not love the Carl Levin?

How is that even possible?

[Citizen_Penn]

3. Town Lake Austin Texas February 2007

soon after he first announced.

Amazing experience.

Very lax security - probably never be able to have a similar experience again.

It was before he had Secret Service protection.

[Yael]

5. PA Whistle Stop tour

It was well worth the wait. He had our Senator with him, who I have found new respect for.

[GarbagemanLB]

6. I was at the Portland rally where Richardson endorsed.

[me b zola]

59. I was there, too! Nose bleed seats on the east side of the Coliseum

I also went to the Decemberists concert. :rofl:




BTW, who are the Decemberists?

[brooklynite]

7. Met him last night...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x143230

I had previously heard him speak in NYC, Iowa and NH.

[gateley]

35. That is too cool - thanks!! nt

[mirrera]

8. I shook his hand and witnessed him do something incredible...

There was a small women to my left, and I held his hand in mine, and I said,
"don't keep the American people safe, keep our constitution safe."
He looked me right in the eyes and said,
"I'm gonna do that"
Then his eyes shifted to the burned women, and without a moments hesitation he pulled her to him for a hug and closed his eyes with total compassion.

Unexpected, unscripted, unrecorded. I saw it, I am witness, I am happy he will be our president.

[SaveAmerica]

64. Wow, that's incredible! I hope you wrote down everything about that night

[Botany]

9. The Allman Brothers Live?

Sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel,
Like I been tied to the whipping post,
Tied to the whipping post,
Tied to the whipping post,
Good lord, I feel like Im dyin.

Rocked the House on Whipping Post!

[rucky]

12. Whenever that's on the jukebox

Live at the Fillmore

I make sure to get my money's worth.

[City Lights]

10. We volunteered in OH for a weekend and were able to see him in Cleveland.

:bounce:

[JimGinPA]

11. I've Seen Him Twice - Once At A Town Hall & Once At A Rally

It's well worth the time & effort.

[sniffa]

13. Why, yes I have

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4420629

(Dial-Up Warning)

[gateley]

34. Wow, Sniffa --

I hadn't see that. Thanks for giving us the link. I was excited just READING it! Felt like I was there -- good job! :headbang:

[sniffa]

43. No, thank you

I'm glad you like. :D

I hope you enjoyed my salty commentary too. :D

[gateley]

51. Having come from a Catholic girls school education

(12 years), I didn't even notice the "salty". Must have been pretty mild by Convent of the Sacred Heart standards. :7

[Debi]

44. Debi, Jr. and the Senator

(Debi, Jr. in the orange shirt)

So there :P

[sniffa]

49. Aww, I haven't seen this yet

Thanks for posting. :loveya:

And lucky you shaking his hand. x(

[Debi]

56. Not me...Debi, Jr. is a political maven!

The Clinton folks got him a seat right up front - he shook Obama (and Kucinich & Edwards) hands - AND he chose this night to endorse Joe Biden and walked in with his crowd. That kid is genius!

(At one of the Obama events he wore one of his Green Bay Packers sweatshirts - Senator Obama saw him and say "oh, now, I see how it is!" Debi, Jr. lost it on that one - the few times he saw the Senator after that he reminded him that he was a Packer fan!).

:hi:

[Debi]

14. Seen him, sat with him, watched from the crowd, shook his hand

Oh, yeah, I'm from Iowa....:yoiks:

[Raine]

15. Would LOVE to but

the Democratic candidates don't come to CA much cause it's so blue they don't feel the need. They come mostly for fund raisers where it cost mucho bucks to get in. :-(

[Barack_America]

16. 3 times, baby!--EDITED!!

Don't worry, you'll get your chance soon!


ETA:

1st time: Philly volunteer rally. Got to sit in the "special seats" and shake his hand! Totally different than his stump speech, focused on how to be a community organizer. Tres cool

2nd time: Philly Jefferson Jackson Dinner. That one was special 'cuz people had some liquor in them. At one point he mentioned that he was "not a perfect man and would not be a perfect President", to which a lady shouted back, "you're the best thing we got!". Loved it.

3rd time: The big 45,000 person Philly rally. It was the only large rally I went to and the specially written "declare our indepedence" from old Washington politics speech was spectacular.

[rucky]

23. I have a feeling he'll be back in Ohio

[Barack_America]

26. Oh yeah he will.

And I edited my post to give you some details of the times I saw him.

:hi:

[bicentennial_baby]

17. Boston, night before Super Tuesday

It was teh awesome. :D

[Debi]

58. I'm betting any night in Boston w/you is awesome!

:hi:

[Ian David]

19. Seen him and shook his hand! n/t

[AtomicKitten]

20. I saw him here in SF at the beginning of the campaign.

Bill Graham auditorium 5-6K capacity filled to the rafters.

I got to shake his hand and have a word with him. :D

[Moloch]

21. Saw him with Jimm Webb, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine

at Virginia Union University in Richmond. Amazing.

[Donna Zen]

22. I saw him at the Yearly Kos

That was good...a debate & breakout session. Then I saw him again in Bangor, ME.

[madaboutharry]

24. Saw him at a rally in Wisconsin.

It was a wonderful day.

[Raven]

25. Saw him at Dartmouth, Hanover NH, last Spring when he was just

getting started. The Obama Campaign gave us tickets and front row seats. Michelle came in first and stopped to talk with everyone in our row. The woman I was with was from the Obamas' neighborhood in Chicago and told MO so. MO stopped and spent about 5 minutes talking to her about the neighborhood and then, as she started to move on, I said that I wondered how she kept such a hectic schedule. She told me that she and the 2 girls were leaving to go back to Chicago that night because she had a PTA meeting in the morning and she was responsible for bringing the orange juice. That was enough for me! A nominee's wife who had her priorities straight!

Obama came in after that and had the crowd on its feet. But Michelle made the sale for me.

[Inspired]

29. I have and here's the proof!

I'm standing right next to our next president!

[Avalux]

30. Saw him in San Antonio.

Town hall meeting so wasn't a lot of people; got fairly close. He spent a lot of time answering questions. :hi:

[Hippo_Tron]

31. Saw him a few years back, not speaking though it was at a forum

I worked on the campaign too but he didn't make it to my state and unfortunately there were good strategic reasons for him not to given that it was a Feb 5 state.

Hope I get a chance to see him before the election.

[bcoylepa]

32. in WIlliamsport PA

with my 26 yr old daughter - there's 2 white woman who support him!!

[DerekJ]

33. I’ll fly in on the day of his inauguration.

[DevonRex]

36. University of Denver.

[Genevieve]

37. Twice in NYC, once in Union Square, and once in Washington Square Park. eom

[peoli]

38. Saw him in Phoenix, Michelle in Tucson.

[BalancedGoat]

Saw him one of the times he came to Dubuque.

Sometime in September, I think.

[gateley]

39. Haven't and don't plan to --

Not because I don't WANT to, just not sure I'll get the opportunity.

[Barack_America]

70. Are you kidding? You're in NC.

You're going to get MANY chances. NC is ground zero for the Obama/Dean map redrawing effort.

[MadBadger]

42. Twice in Madison. Once in October, and once at the Victory Speech for the Potomac Primaries.

[AllentownJake]

47. I saw him in Allentown

Got VIP tickets because I was a volunteer coordinator for my township :-)

All that really meant though was I got a good seat and I didn't have to wait in line to get in.

[swishyfeet]

50. Me and 75,000 of my closest friends saw him...

And by close, I mean much too close.

[Roxy66]

52. Saw him @ the Boise Rally, and volunteered @ the Pendelton Oregon Town Hall

I shook his hand twice and he put his hand on my shoulder while I told him I was running the Ontario, Oregon Obama office. The secret service actually left me and another volunteer to guard his entrance onto the convention floor. We had to keep the crowd 3 ft away all around the entrance (it entered in the middle of bleachers), which was not an easy task....many rabid supporters wanting to get as close to the entrance as possible. I was just about as close as you can get to him without hugging him...lets just say the crown rushed the rope/entrance. It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced...He was even more illuminous 2 ft away as he is in those HUGE arenas

[countingbluecars]

53. I saw him several years ago

in Virginia at a small campaign event for Tim Kaine.

[Gol]

55. Saw him in Sunrise Florida on May 23rd

Here is a picture I took:

[BlooInBloo]

57. I fail. :(

[AZBlue]

60. In Phoenix in January - and hoping for a repeat!

[FrenchieCat]

61. San Francisco in December with my daugher. I shook his hand.

Hubby saw him in Marin County and got my book signed.

Same daughter saw him the night before 2/5 in Boston with Teddy and John Kerry and Patrick Duval.

[Occam Bandage]

62. At the Xcel Energy Center, announcing he had won the nomination.

Also, in a meeting with College Democrats at University of Chicago, back when he was running for the Senate (I think in the primaries still). Shook his hand then. Didn't know he'd blow up so quick.

[madrchsod]

63. right after the 2004 address

3 ft away from him when he visited the hometown of ronny reagan. there were about 75 or so people to meet him...

[goclark]

65. I saw him speak at USC a year ago

He had the students screaming his name and crying for joy!
All he was doing was telling the truth.

It was thrilling and I knew then that he was headed for greatness.

[DangerousRhythm]

66. I did in Houston!

It was amazing!

[ClayZ]

67. The Seattle Rally!

Amazing! Twenty thousand inside....ten thousand outside, including my husband, who could not get in after finding parking. We talked on cell phoned from inside to outside. It was freezing outside. Obama stopped to talk with the overflow crowd before going in.


Only regret... NOT yanking all my Grandchildren out of school to go along with us.


Next time! :-)

K and R

[LucyParsons]

69. I saw him in February - here's my blog about it:

Barack Obama rally in Austin, Friday, February 22, 2008
I figured I should go, since it was only about six blocks from my house. I saw George Bush many times (and was and remain unimpressed), but I thought if I missed the opportunity to see the potential President Obama right down the street, I would hate to explain that to the grandkids.

My friend and I enjoyed the rally, though were less impressed by Obama's speech than we might've been if we hadn't already heard just about all of it before, repeatedly, verbatim. However, he did insert a few things I hadn't really heard before - he went on a mini-rant about the Constitution, which I appreciated, for instance. Overall, I remain a bit befuddled as to why all these thousands of people think he's the second coming. Some of them were starry-eyed, a few were giddy and jumping up and down. And we had to ask ourselves - have these people never been to a political rally before? Have they never watched an election before? Inspirational speeches and fantastic promises and stirring music are not new. I was also less than impressed by Obama's references to his faith ("I've been praising Jesus for the past twenty years!" - though, to his credit, he was making light of the "Obama is a Muslim" claims, and pointing out that they're an insult to both Christians and Muslims) and his statement (which I had seen on youtube), "I believe in the free market; I believe in capitalism." I realize he has to say things like that, yes, and if he can deliver real, meaningful, healthcare reform while saying it as lip service, then I can get behind that - but it's still disappointing. My possibly even-more-cynical friend said at the outset, "I really want to be inspired, I do - but I think I'm dead inside." I told her I would expect to be inspired by Eugene V. Debs, but did not expect too much from the current crop of politicians.

I am willing to give Obama a chance. Of course I think he would've voted for the IWR if he had been in the Senate, but, the fact remains: he did not. Hillary has too many deal-breaking pro-corporate compromises in her past to get my vote. Obama doesn't have these liabilities simply because he hasn't been in office long enough to reach her level of corruption. I was for Kucinich, then Edwards, now Obama, with less enthusiasm for each candidate, one after the other. I don't think Edwards is really a lot better than Obama, or Obama a lot better than Clinton - I suppose it's the usual "lesser of two evils" type of decision-making. I voted for Nader in 2000, and I am still proud of it. He was, and remains right.

I remain baffled in regards to the fervent, quasi-religious nature of some of the support Obama generates, particularly from younger voters. These people need to hear more about his caving in to the nuclear industry, need to hear more about Zbigniew Brzezinski (who they have probably never heard of), need to hear more about Rezko, need to hear more about his health care plan, need to hear more about his somewhat fence-sitting abortion rights and gay rights records. I also don't understand why other candidates aren't as great at rhetoric and oratory - to me, it doesn't seem that difficult, and should be a basic skill of any politician, certainly one seeking a national political office. It's great that he can deliver a rousing speech, but can he deliver accessible healthcare to my 58-year-old mother, who has been working for forty years and has no insurance, nor retirement, nor savings? I'm not holding my breath.

So Obama is the new JFK. I hope not. JFK "inspired" us with his youth, his energy, his grand plans for visiting the moon, his new programs that brought younger Americans into the stream of public service. But he was also elected with help from the mafia; sat on the fence about civil rights at a crucial moment that could've been the catalyst for earlier, broader change; tried to invade Cuba (a sovereign nation, despite what the stupid, imperialist Teller and Platt Amendments might have posited); undermined leftist governments in Latin America with the typical covert CIA operations; continued Eisenhower's interventionist policy in Vietnam, and approved the use of free-fire zones and napalm there; and (shock!) sent arms to the new Baathist regime in Iraq during their campaign to rid the country of suspected leftists while American oil companies (notably Mobil and Bechtel) were doing business in that country.

This has all happened before.

[olkaz]

71. I saw his announcement that he was running for president.

And it was f'ing cold. But Michelle was there and everything. Totally worth it.

It was quite a scene.