My (crappy) pics from last night's Austin Obama rally

[LucyParsons]

I am a lukewarm Obama voter. I was for Kucinich, then Edwards, now Obama.

I figured I should go, since it was only about six blocks from my house. I saw George Bush lots of times (and remain unimpressed), but I thought if I missed the opportunity to see the potential President Obama right down the street, I would never be able to explain to the grandkids (I'm 28).

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 the likes of Eugene V. Debs, but not by any of the current crop of politicians.

I will vote for Obama; I think it's worth giving him a chance. There is some small chance that he really "gets it". I won't hold my breath, though.


Here are some pics:



standing in line



Obama-mobile



6:15pm



The band (very good)



Our beautiful state capitol



Lights, camera...



pawn



Obama



Obama



Obama



Obama



Crowd (estimate = 21,841)



The end.

[Jane Austin]

1. I think your pictures are wonderful!

Thanks so much.

[sonias]

2. Your pictures are not crappy at all

I think you have a nice selection there. I'm glad you went. I think you'll feel better later that you did. Especially if he becomes the next President of the U.S.

:applause:

Sonia

[Danzo]

3. Obama and Free Market/Capitalism

Lucy, I think there are a lot of legitimate reasons to be concerned that Barack may have a much more prominent corporatist side than the media has been showing. For one, his interest group ratings for a lot of anti-regulation enterprise groups like The Club For Growth and Americans for Prosperity are higher than I would expect from a Democrat:

http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=9490&type=category&category=17&go.x=9&go.y=7