Obama-rama!

I'm no stranger to political rallies. The last one I went to was four years ago when John Kerry was running for president. A friend and I decided to go check it out; I think we both felt the same about Kerry: unenthusiastic, but curious and trying to keep an open mind, plus we were leery of the alternative. Unfortunately for us, Bon Jovi was also playing at this rally and when we got there the line was insane. After observing people for awhile, we determined that we were pretty sure most of the people there had come to see Bon Jovi. We were indignant because we had only partially gone to see Bon Jovi and were really hoping to see Kerry! We waited in line forever and ultimately did not get in, at which point we left and went to Chinese Buffet II. In other words, the night wasn't a total loss.

Yesterday was my friend Sarah's birthday and we had made plans to go out to dinner to celebrate. But when she found out Barack Obama was going to be in town she e-mailed me to ask me if I'd be up for going to see him instead! I was excited but hadn't forgotten what happened the last time and had some doubts that we'd be able to get in. My mind was put at ease a little bit when she assured me that Bon Jovi would not be there. We drove downtown and hopped on the People Mover to get to Joe Louis Arena. When we pulled up to the station at Joe Louis (two and half hours before the rally started), we couldn't believe the crowd we saw. Everyone on the People Mover gasped and muttered, "oh no." The line was loooong and dense. But once we got in the line, we actually had an ok time. The people around us were nice and fun, and we got some awesome buttons.

A little over an hour after getting in line, we entered Joe Louis and once through the metal detectors and security, we were home free! That's when the excitement began.

After skirting all around the aisles at Joe Louis, we were able to get decent seats. A little before the speakers came out, volunteers started handing out signs, including ones that were hand made and I think were supposed to look like they had been brought by people attending (we were specifically told we were not allowed to bring signs). Sarah was outraged by how staged the signs were. Here's a great pic. of her being outraged.

The first person to come out on stage was none other than Chauncey Billups! The crowd went wild. He only spoke very briefly, and mostly just introduced the woman who sang the national anthem (who did an amazing job by the way, partially due to the woman behind me who kept encouraging her, I think. "You got it! Hit it girl!"). Then Jennifer Granholm spoke. She did a decent job. But I will say one thing that I did not like about her speech. She was wearing what looked to be a banana clip. I don't know... it kind of looked like she's trying to grow her hair out and is in that awkward stage, but still. A banana clip? We were sitting to the side of her, so we could see that banana clip and it was pretty distracting.

Moving on, we wondered if Kwame would have the nerve to show up, but we heard that he was not invited. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but after what happened at the Red Wings parade, I would not be surprised! Another person said he decided not to come on his own. Either way, I think it's a good thing he wasn't there.

After her speech, Granholm introduced Barack Obama and.....Al Gore! Everyone went totally wild when they came out. We had no idea Al Gore was going to be there. It was quite a surprise. He gave a great speech (love the accent!) then introduced Obama. The rest of the rally was really fun. Obama is a very dynamic speaker with a lot of great ideas! I'm not sure how he plans to carry out all of his ideas, but I hope he can.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm madly in love with everything Obama says or does. I mean, I'm registered as "independent" after all, so I think that legally I have to keep an open mind up till election day. But I did like what I heard and we had a great time. And most importantly, Sarah said she had a great birthday.