My back aches, my legs are sore, and I'm as tired as I could be, but by golly, I got to see the future president speak in person at the JFK Stadium in Springfield — just three days before this darn long election is over.
I echo the sentiment of my aunt, Lisa, who attended the event with me along with her husband, Darrell, and son, Will: If I could've skipped the waiting in line from 4:30 until 8:45ish and standing throughout Obama's entire speech until 10:30 p.m., it would've been a lot better. The line stretched from JFK Stadium down Grant Street and some reports said it stretched down Sunshine Street to Kansas Expressway. We arrived to the back of the line when it was to Sunshine Street.
This is our traverse to the end of the line upon our arrival. We parked closer to Grand Street, which had us walking all the way to Sunshine Street (a good 10-15 blocks) to find the end of the line.
This is the beginning of our wait at around 4:30. We were near the corner of Grant and Sunshine, and as you can see the line snaked around onto Sunshine Street; we heard that the line stretched all the way to Kansas Expressway.
I did enjoy hearing Barack speak, and it was also very nice to hear Michelle Obama introduce her husband and see his girls; it's good they can travel together in these last few days before the election. I think hearing them both speak in person provided a sense of belief and enthusiasm in what they're saying. Obama requested that we need to remember to believe that we can make our nation a better, stronger place — despite the cynicism that people rightly have after the horrible presidency and time out of which we are ready to transition.
The beginning of Obama's speech. He said it looked like 40,000 people were in attendance, but I'm not sure of exact numbers. My uncle and I estimated somewhere around 30,000 because the size of the crowd was that of a well-attended St. Louis Cardinals game.
As we stood in line, a group of McCain supporters (it looked like mostly children) heard our opinion of their signs.
A supporter of McCain called Obama a socialist, like other great socialists in history. I wasn't sure that all his examples were socialists; maybe I should read my history book again.
A big crowd.
Right way, Jay!
Michelle Obama's introduction.
1 comment:
Nice post, I think alot of us can echo the legs hurting, back sore. But, when Barck was speaking I felt no pain :). I saw your post and wanted to share the photos that I took http://changeinspringfield.com/.
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