South Carolina Sojourn #4: The Democratic Primary
Barack Obama Live and Hillary Clinton's Rude Staffers
After our sumptuous dinner at the Capital City Club (located atop the highest building in South Carolina), we returned to the hotel. I was tired and somewhat drunk, but nearly everyone was making plans for going out again. I did not want to spend my time in a bar, I didn’t want to drag Aaron along nor exclude him by going without him, and I had had enough to drink.
My salvation from next-day’s hangover was Gayathri and her husband. I had met Gayathri in the morning and she was planning on going to an Obama rally that evening. Her husband had a flyer and had called ahead to see if we needed to RSVP or get a ticket, but neither were necessary. We drove around looking for a place to park and settled on a spot in the middle of a main boulevard.
We queued for less than half-an-hour because everyone entering the auditorium had to have their bags searched and pass through a metal detector. Then, we were directed up a flight of stairs and into the first open row. Very efficient. A young fiddler was dazzling the audience. I was surprised to see that he was a young black man dressed in camo pants with a sharp hair cut and diamond earrings. I expect fiddlers to be old and wearing overalls. That’s stereotyping for you. Anyway, he was very good, but we were wondering when Obama was going to come on since it was now past 10 p.m.
After watching aides hand out placards and listening to radio Obama for at least twenty minutes, Michelle Obama came out and was very well-spoken. She introduced the former Democratic governor of South Carolina, who came out and introduced Barack himself. It was now just about 11 p.m. and he gave his stump speech. He was a very good speaker, very motivating. It doesn’t hurt that he has a nice baritone voice. I can’t help but listen to politicians with a skeptical ear. The amount of “change” that he was promising does not happen overnight. Some of the things addressed, like jobs and education, need more local and state reform than broad federal intiatives provide.
He only quoted two people: “Dr. King” and “President Kennedy.” I thought those were interesting choices. I found some of the things he said to be complete over-simplifications and some of them nigh on impossible. He called his detractors “cynics” when they call his use of the word “hope” naïve. I think it’s naïve to think that he can live up to his campaign promises without structurally changing the beauracracy. We need to limit federal spending and cut government jobs. Streamline. Bring in the efficiency experts. It’s a bloated, convoluted system where the people are constantly changing and there’s no sense of stability or history.
Still, it’s hard not to feel the excitement that comes with someone acknowledging and promising to change the things we all know are wrong with our country. I heard someone say that Hilary Clinton operates out of anger, like Martha Stewart. I wonder if the people who said that are just mysogionistic in regards to powerful women. I also wonder: what’s so wrong with operating out of anger. Sure, it may not be good for your arteries, but anger is a pretty unifying and motivating force. I feel as though her Washington experience could only augment her time in office, as well as having an ex-president for a husband and personal advisor.
Needless to say, I’m still undecided for the primary, and I’m not even sure if I can vote because of some stupid snafu with my new registration. Well, I’ll try a couple polling places to see if I’m on any lists.
After the rousing rally, we headed back for the hotel and turned in. On Sunday, we turned in our rental car and the manager of the branch was complaining about Hillary's campaign. Apparently, they were just leaving their cars wherever they wanted and calling Enterprise to let them know they did that. Keys in the ignition in a parking lot and all that. A couple of them had even stolen the GPS units! So mind where your donations are going for the Hillary campaign: right to Enterprise.
After our sumptuous dinner at the Capital City Club (located atop the highest building in South Carolina), we returned to the hotel. I was tired and somewhat drunk, but nearly everyone was making plans for going out again. I did not want to spend my time in a bar, I didn’t want to drag Aaron along nor exclude him by going without him, and I had had enough to drink.
My salvation from next-day’s hangover was Gayathri and her husband. I had met Gayathri in the morning and she was planning on going to an Obama rally that evening. Her husband had a flyer and had called ahead to see if we needed to RSVP or get a ticket, but neither were necessary. We drove around looking for a place to park and settled on a spot in the middle of a main boulevard.
We queued for less than half-an-hour because everyone entering the auditorium had to have their bags searched and pass through a metal detector. Then, we were directed up a flight of stairs and into the first open row. Very efficient. A young fiddler was dazzling the audience. I was surprised to see that he was a young black man dressed in camo pants with a sharp hair cut and diamond earrings. I expect fiddlers to be old and wearing overalls. That’s stereotyping for you. Anyway, he was very good, but we were wondering when Obama was going to come on since it was now past 10 p.m.
After watching aides hand out placards and listening to radio Obama for at least twenty minutes, Michelle Obama came out and was very well-spoken. She introduced the former Democratic governor of South Carolina, who came out and introduced Barack himself. It was now just about 11 p.m. and he gave his stump speech. He was a very good speaker, very motivating. It doesn’t hurt that he has a nice baritone voice. I can’t help but listen to politicians with a skeptical ear. The amount of “change” that he was promising does not happen overnight. Some of the things addressed, like jobs and education, need more local and state reform than broad federal intiatives provide.
He only quoted two people: “Dr. King” and “President Kennedy.” I thought those were interesting choices. I found some of the things he said to be complete over-simplifications and some of them nigh on impossible. He called his detractors “cynics” when they call his use of the word “hope” naïve. I think it’s naïve to think that he can live up to his campaign promises without structurally changing the beauracracy. We need to limit federal spending and cut government jobs. Streamline. Bring in the efficiency experts. It’s a bloated, convoluted system where the people are constantly changing and there’s no sense of stability or history.
Still, it’s hard not to feel the excitement that comes with someone acknowledging and promising to change the things we all know are wrong with our country. I heard someone say that Hilary Clinton operates out of anger, like Martha Stewart. I wonder if the people who said that are just mysogionistic in regards to powerful women. I also wonder: what’s so wrong with operating out of anger. Sure, it may not be good for your arteries, but anger is a pretty unifying and motivating force. I feel as though her Washington experience could only augment her time in office, as well as having an ex-president for a husband and personal advisor.
Needless to say, I’m still undecided for the primary, and I’m not even sure if I can vote because of some stupid snafu with my new registration. Well, I’ll try a couple polling places to see if I’m on any lists.
After the rousing rally, we headed back for the hotel and turned in. On Sunday, we turned in our rental car and the manager of the branch was complaining about Hillary's campaign. Apparently, they were just leaving their cars wherever they wanted and calling Enterprise to let them know they did that. Keys in the ignition in a parking lot and all that. A couple of them had even stolen the GPS units! So mind where your donations are going for the Hillary campaign: right to Enterprise.