Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Obamarama


I couldn't get a ticket for Obama's Houston gig last night. I was on "stand-by." Are you kidding me?! The Toyota Center holds 20,000 and they ran out of room 2 days before the event?! The frickin' Rockets don't even do that. I wasn't in the mood to take my chances with the surly mob I was sure would be hanging around outside the walls, but Mrs. DrPuma was dead set on being there. So we met at 5:30 and walked over to the arena. There were like ninety-trillion people waiting outside, but this mob wasn't surly at all. People were totally cool and having a good time. There were multiple lines snaking around the building, coiling into the streets. It was madness, yet completely orderly. We found a line for stand-by ticket holders and took our place.

The doors opened some time after 6:00, and the ticket holders' lines started moving. We had to wait, and wait, and... By this time we were pretty sure we were actually going to get in, and we did by about 7:30. The beer lines were long, and this being Texas, all the early birds grabbed big, fat comfortable seats, even where the view was obstructed. We went straight to the floor in front of the press and about 20 feet in front of the stage. Then we waited some more.

I was amazed that Obama could pack this room. It's a damn big room, and I could see everything. We had been analyzing the crowd. There were lots of young people, but not overwhelmingly so. There were also plenty of 20/30ish white guys in suits. More than 50% were african american. Astonishingly, in a city that is 40% latino, I only saw one guy who was obviously such. There were a few starstruck teenaged girls, but just as many grandmothers.

The speech was good, but unremarkable. He talked for 45 minutes and only looked at his notes a few times. He clearly meant what he said, and he said all the right things. The biggest cheers were for lines repudiating the decision to invade Iraq, and for giving those who had to go over there the respect they deserve when they return--a reference to the health care problems of vets. In this speech, he seemed to be running against the specter of the former Texas governor, not the current NY senator.

I can't tell how the Texas primary is going to play out, but Hillary is playing it very dangerously here. She made her trips to San Antonio and The Valley to court the latino voters, and it seems like she is placing all her bets on them. While Obama drew 20,000 to his public spectacle last night, Clinton chose to hold a private fundraising dinner tonight at the Hyatt Regency. Tickets are $1000. I think that simple comparison speaks volumes--and tells me all I need to know.

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