How I Spent Friday Morning
DSC01846, originally uploaded by indigo_jones.
Thursday afternoon the phone rang and it turned out to be a recorded message alerting me to the fact that Bill Clinton would be speaking at the local YMCA downtown early Friday morning, doors opening at 7:45 a.m. At first, I didn't think that much about it, as I'm leaning more toward Obama, but then I realized that I'd never seen a president in person before. This would be my chance.
I'm not generally impressed by celebrity -- there are plenty of people who do great things without any fanfare -- but I was curious to see Clinton in person, since he has such a variety of reputations, depending on your political leanings. He's also supposed to be fairly charismatic and a good speaker, so I thought I'd see for myself. Plus, it's not often that North Carolina plays any role in the primaries. It's all usually sorted before we get a chance to vote. Suddenly, people are actually campaigning here!
So, I set my alarm for 6 a.m. to give myself time to get downtown and find somewhere to park and get in line, not knowing how many would turn out and how many would be allowed in to the event.
Then I woke up at 7:15. It seems I'd accidentally set the alarm for 6 p.m., not a.m. I'd had a rough night with Pippo waking me at 3:30 and then I didn't get to sleep until 5, so I was tired and grumpy and not feeling great. Fortunately, I had noticed the day before that Clinton would also be speaking over in High Point shortly after his appearance in Greensboro. Rather than try to rush to the Greensboro event, I decided to head over to High Point instead. Despite the fact that High Point doesn't seem to believe in street signs (there were two major intersections, including one that I think I was looking for that had absolutely no signs anywhere), and a security guard at the main gate at High Point University who was rude and condescending, I managed to make it to the event.
I had a fairly decent vantage point (although thank goodness for zoom lenses) and enjoyed the experience, talking with a few fellow Democrats as we waited. I also got mistaken for a college student. At one point, I was handed one of the HIllary for President signs they were passing around, but after taking a quick photo of it, I decided to pass it along to someone else. For posterity, I wouldn't have minded keeping it, but with the upcoming move, I'm hyper aware of any new items I purchase and whether I can take them with me. I also got vaguely environmentally concerned, wondering how many of the signs might eventually just end up in the trash.
Clinton's speech? It was fine. Conversational rather than condescending. Nothing particularly new, though, in terms of all the speeches and debates I've already heard throughout this particular campaign. A few enjoyable analogies and discussions regarding oil dependency, health care and education. He is a good speaker and didn't come across as smarmy in person. I wasn't swayed to vote for Hillary in the primary, but I wasn't expecting to be.
As he was pointing out the difference in interest rates and college loans from the time he was president and as they are now for many of the students in the audience, I was reminded that "Hey! You were president when I graduated from college!" I was also reminded, that the first Iraq invasion was during my first year in college with the other Bush in office. I was further reminded as he talked that I've already actually voted for Hillary. I was living in New York when she first ran for the Senate and I did vote for her. So really, she's gotten my vote once. She shouldn't be greedy. ;)
Ultimately, I'm going to vote for whomever the Democratic nominee turns out to be, whether it's Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton. I'm generally happy enough with either of them and agree with them much more than I do McCain. I really dislike McCain and his policies and plans (what little he's bothered to put out so far). Go Donkeys!
View all of my photos from the event here.