I went to the Barack Obama rally at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum yesterday afternoon. I had never really been to a political rally before. The only real encounters I’ve had with politics were from four years ago when the third presidential debate was held at ASU. And being a younger, less mature experienced individual, I spent most of the time taking pictures of funny signs or trying to get on national television by turning my light on and off in the background of a live CNN broadcast.
I didn’t go to the rally to see Obama, and while I was there, I didn’t really listen to much of the speech, or spend much time watching him. The reason I went was because my photography professor thought it would be a great opportunity to take pictures, so he cancelled the official class, and told us to go to the rally instead. For an event like that, a good picture is harder to find, because he has rallies every day. A picture of Obama on a platform with a mic is not very significant. Anyone can get that shot. So I went to the rally for a picture, not for the politics, and therefore spent most of the time listening to and watching the people in the crowd, which in the end I think was actually better than going for the politics.
I was amazed by the support that was shown by the crowd. Obviously there is going to be support for a candidate at a planned rally, but the electricity and energy inside that building was amazing, and Obama’s stature and presence at that arena was unbelievable. There wasn’t a single moment where any disconnect from Obama to the people was shown.
More important, I was truly impressed with the diversity of the crowd. I’ve been reading articles (more) about how the Republicans are going to win again, for the sole reason that the Democrats are running a woman and a black man, and the people of America aren’t ready for that kind of change yet.
I saw the complete opposite of that at this rally. People of all colors, all ages, both genders were all there together, showing equal support for both Obama and, more important, each other. I witnessed 70-year-old black men cheering with and hugging 20 year-old white girls. Older black women and younger white men sharing stories of other rallies they have attended for Obama. Every combination of race and age were interacting with each other like it’s no big deal. And they are 100% correct, it is not a big deal. It is not any deal at all. This is not 1960. This is 2008. The mass media have made too big of a deal about race, and from what I saw, luckily, the people are ignoring it.
So while I didn’t absorb a single point that Obama personally may have made at his rally, by watching and listening to the people who were there to support him, I gained a much better knowledge of the campaign that Obama is trying to run, the people who support his cause, and the fact that it is 2008, and we (Americans) are finally, FINALLY in the presence of the true possibility that it is the man behind the skin, not the color of it.
Posted by Erik 