My First Day in Philadelphia

My 1st day in Philly was awesome! I spent about 6 hours yesterday in front of a mall in the center of town with the objective of getting people to the Rally that evening. A lot of people were very friendly and supportive. Most non-Obama folks just averted their eyes looking away from me. I only ran into a few nasty people and they were all older white men. A couple just seething with hostility one walking by and under his breath saying “NEVER” and another said “I would never vote for HIM” with such venom, wow pretty crazy. I responded suggesting they come hear Barack speak tonight and then don’t vote for him…at least they’ll know what they are voting against. Then one man got in my face and said “do you realize that you may never see a woman President if you don’t vote for Hillary?” and I said “yes…so what? I don’t vote for people because of their gender, race or religion” He said, “so many women worked so hard to pave the way for me to have the opportunities that my generation has had” my reply to that was “their fight was so that I would have options and choices and I CHOOSE to vote and support Barack!”

Then I went to the Rally at Independence Mall. Pretty moving to think of the history there at the beginning of our country and the history we’re making in our country now. They expected attendance of about 20,000 and when we arrived the lines of people 2 hours before the gate even opened were enormous. The headquarters I was working out of didn’t give me a ticket but using the Glushon resourcefulness my mother had and my nephews have even more of not only did I get in but along with a new friend Michael we scammed our way right up front about 20 yards from the stage. Breaking the rules made it all even more exciting!

They say more than 35,000 people attended, the largest crowd of the campaign so far. Equally as cool was after the rally there were thousands of people (media claims about 5,000) that walked up Market St chanting “OBAMA, OBAMA” and “Yes We Can” etc…the police at 1st attempted to reign people in off the street and to the sidewalk but it didn’t work. I felt like we were in a flashback to 1968…it was absolutely incredible! A massive tidal wave of people, every age, every color all together proudly in unison. I don’t think anything else on this trip will top that.

A side note, I’m laughing so hard…Hillary is on the news giving a speech somewhere today and getting her crowd to chant “yes we will” over and over again….you would think she could come up with something a bit more original!

Anyway…anyone want to join me in Oregon??