Obama Rally at MCC

My Husband Went to the Obama Rally, and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt



Kathy wasn't the only person a little envious that I landed a ticket to the Obama event. While waiting on line (I've taken to using the preposition "on" instead of "in" for line waiting--is that pretentious?), I purchased this bootleg t-shirt for $10. I managed to snatch it up before the bootleggers were chased off. And it's quite astounding that I actually had $10 with me, as I very rarely carry cash.

At any rate, it's a pretty cool t-shirt. And it's also cool that Obama rallies can support t-shirt bootleggers. I mean, it's like the Stanley Cup or something. I should have taken pictures of all the different Obama t-shirts I saw in the crowd. There are a bazillion of them. Most of them, I think, bootlegs.

Ceci n'est pas un SUV



Perhaps I took too many linguistics courses in college, but the most interesting thing about today's Obama rally was the signifier/signified pairing behind him on the floor. Three GMC hybrid SUVs were parked there, and each of them had a little placard taped to the side-view mirror. The placards, in the Obama campaign signature font and color scheme, read simply "HYBRID VEHICLE."

Now, immediately I thought that this was the campaign staff trying to counteract the image created by three giganitc SUVs. I still think that. But I am intrigued by the whole idea of the signs. I want to learn more about it.

Did you ever have a roommate who was trying to learn a foreign language? You know that stage when they make labels for everything in the apartment? Every time you look for something in the kitchen, you encounter little tags that say "el horno microondas," el refrigerador," or "la tostadora." I mean, geez.... is this really going to work?

It also reminded me, strangely, of the scene in True Stories when David Byrne drives up to the camera lens and proclaims: "this is not a rental car; it is privately owned."

I was hoping to see other placards identifying objects in the hall. "FOLDING CHAIR," "VIDEO CAMERA," and "AMERICAN FLAG" would have come in handy, as there were plenty of each. Lots of people could have used placards, too. "ELECTED OFFICIAL," "LAID OFF WORKER," and "UNION MEMBER" would have been useful. Some people did have placards on, now that I think of it. "PRESS" and "STAFF" were two that I saw. Or maybe the Dickensian placard "HE BITES." I would have worn that one.

But Seriously

Why am I being so sarcastic? Well, I am nervous. I am nervous we might lose this election, and John McCain and Sarah Palin might be in charge of the country. And that means they will appoint Supreme Court Justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade. And they will continue this far-right power grab. And they will continue the war in Iraq. All because some people like hockey moms and some other people think there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans. And that will suck. So I am being silly.

Tickets, Please...

Tickets were pretty hard to come by at this event. There were definitely fewer than 300 people in the high bay area of the RTC; I heard that the College only received 30 tickets. When I was waiting in line, I stood next to Jim Ananich, an old pal of mine and a member of the Flint City Council. He didn't have a ticket until right before we went in. I saw a number of people turned away. When I got the front of the line, they looked for my name on a list before they let me in. I was on a very short list of MCC employees.

I was pretty close at today's rally (6th row center, actually) and got some decent shots with my small camera. Right now I am uploading the photos I took. I'll do a little blog here tonight. Great event--it was fun.

When the Obama event from today is available on YouTube, I will embed it here. Meanwhile, here are my snapshots. I also took 3 very short movies.

Get Your Motor Runnin'

With only a couple of weeks to go until the Utah motorcycle trip with my dad, it was quite a site to see 40 Michigan State Police ElectraGlide Harley Davidsons lined up in the Obama motorcade. Very, very cool. It was just starting to rain as these troopers waited for Obama to emerge from the RTC. They casually donned their rain gear (it's not a short drive to Farmington Hills). It got me pyched for the Utah trip (though I am renting a StreetGlide).