So I'm going to a huge Obama rally tonight

[A_C_E]

Will try to take as many pictures as possible.

I'm curious to see what kind of speech we're going to have here. Supposedly, the area is packed to the hilt, and the crowds are already massive. Hopefully I'll get to hear something a little more substantive than "hope and change", but if not, it will at least be cool to be a part of a rock-star political atmosphere. Something I have yet to be able to witness.

[WickedLou9]

Are you going to throw your underwear at him?

[A_C_E]

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

Are you going to throw your underwear at him?

Its ridiculous out here...must be 30000 people at this rally. Worst venue ops I have ever seen in my life

I have some pics I can email to someone from my iPhone if anyone wants to post them.

[motivez]

sent you a pm

[Thorgrim]

Todd Beeton]:OK, the speech is over. It started really late and was super short -- ran just under a half hour, usually he does about 40-45 minutes. I'm actually a little puzzled by how short his speech was. Usually he goes further in depth on issues than he did tonight. The structure was essentially 1. McCain 2. Hillary 3. issues. The central theme of the speech was "declaring independence from politics of division." Expect to hear that formulation as he treks through Pennsylvania this weekend. It was a really good, tight speech and typically chill-inducing. I do wonder if people might feel a bit short-changed, as it were, considering some of them have been here for hours. But man it was a beautiful night so there are worse places to be stuck for a few hours.

Sorry Ace

[A_C_E]

I was spectacularly underwhelmed both by the quality of his speech and by the venue logistics--the speech was kind of boring and very predictable, the venue logistics were complete and utter shit (although they were shitty enough to allow me to sneak past security into the paid ticket section, so I suppose). I guess I just had higher expectations about what he would say, but the crowd there loved it. Call it pandering or whatever, but Barack had those people hanging on his every word.

I have dozens of pics, but I have to work from now until 2 am, so I'll transfer everything from my iphone over tomorrow and post them up. Some of the crowd shots are pretty spectacular. Here's a little tease:

[A_C_E]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

Sorry Ace

He's right on both counts--it was a beautiful night and just being outside was fantastic, but at the same time I felt a bit short-changed having waited for almost three hours to hear a rather banal speech.

[kombayn]

^Shit, if I was Obama. Giving speeches for months on end would not only tire me but bore the hell out of me. I rather do a book-signing type of atmosphere so I could actually talk to everyone, instead of repeating a speech I gave 3 days earlier. It gets a bit redundant.

[7960]

So, was obama huge?