Obama at the Forum

My friend Andy rocks the casbah. He, along with his friends Chris and Dennis, got up at 3 am Saturday and drove to Harrisburg, to be in line by 5 am for first come, first serve tickets to Obama's town hall meeting at the Forum (they didn't start handing out tickets until 9 am). It was only supposed to be one ticket per person, and Andy had tried to get a hold of me Friday night and see if I wanted to go down with them, but I didn't get the message until Saturday morning when it was too late to join them.

BUT, it turned out the first however many people could get TWO tickets a piece, and they were close enough to the front that they got them, one for Andy's wife Meg, and one for me.

So yesterday after church I wolfed down some lunch, then Chris picked me up, then drove to Dennis' to pick him up and meet up with Andy and Meg, then we caravaned to downtown, parked in Dennis' sister's apartment lot, and walked to The Forum. It was still two hours before they opened the doors, but we wanted good seats.

I've been keeping an eye on Obama since he won the Senate seat in 2004. In fact, I sent an e-mail to all my friends a month after that, right after I came back from the SOA/WHISC protest , calling for a Martin Sheen/Barack Obama ticket in 2008 (I put him in the veep spot then because he was a lesser known entity, and I wasn't sure the country as a whole was ready for a black frontrunner - plus, West Wing was really popular at that time, so I thought Sheen would have an "incumbant advantage" with the kind of folks that show up on "Jaywalking").

But I digress - my point is, Obama's been my candidate of choice since he announced he was running. So I was thrilled to have a chance to hear him in person. And I was not disappointed - the man is brilliant, articulate, and engaging, and he really believes in this little experiment called America, he really believes in both the power and the empowering of the people - that was evident throughout the night, from the Harrisburg campaign organizer who spoke at the very beginning, through Barack's opening comments and unscripted answers to spontaneous audience questions, all the way to the campaign volunteers inviting more people to join and volunteer as we were leaving. He is a true Progressive, his policies and his rhetoric embody a Lutheran-esque dialectic - there is a distinct role and function for the government, but government can't do everything, people have also got to step up.

And, in my opinion, people are much more likely to step up if they're invited. In my opinion, he's the first politician who has TRULY extended that invitation - to participate in the process, to have a voice at the table, to step up to your responsibilities in your own community and your own life - in a LONG time.

It was by far the most racially diverse, and most racially balanced, political gathering that I have ever been to, which was cool in itself. There was also a greater diversity of chants going on in the crowd, including some that were much more rhythmic than what is usually heard at gatherings where the majority of attendees are white - as a lifelong musician and people watcher, I found that interesting.

Andy taped the whole meeting and will be posting it on YouTube - look up "Obama's White Preacher" for the footage.

Also, WHTM, the abc affiliate in Harrisburg, interviewed the lady standing right in front of us in line. They framed it really tight, so Andy and Chris were cut out, and I am standing right behind the woman from the camera's point of view. But that'd be Meg and Dennis standing behind her on the right side of the screen. And at one point, she moves her head a little and you can see my ear and a little burst of red hair.

Hillary's still ahead in the polls here, but it's a long way to April 22. So if you're in PA, or you're an Obama supporter somewhere else in the country, stand up and keep fighting, because

YES, WE CAN.