Friday, October 10, 2008

My sunburn and democratic theory [Bryan]

Went to a big Obama rally in Columbus today. Waited in the sun for about five hours for the thing to start. Got a sunburn.

The rally itself was okay. By far, the best part about it was the people watching. In my professional work, I do quite a bit of reading and teaching about democratic theory -- stuff about how we can overcome our differences and manage to work together on common projects. The rally was the most visible instantiation of this democratic ideal that I have witnessed. Seemingly every type of person was there: white and black; blue-collar workers and professionals; young and old; lesbians and church groups; urbanites and Appalachian Ohioans; pacifists and veterans (and pacifist veterans); Orthodox Jews and not a few Utah-born Mormons! It was a veritable cornucopia of people coming together in common purpose. It was a hopeful scene in the face of a very bad national situation.

Here we are, 10,000 strong Obama fans, waiting in line.


I passed the time taking pictures of cute children...

...and police snipers.

Governor Strickland and Senator Brown.

And there he is (drop the teleprompter Barack!)



Some video

1 comment:

Renee Collins said...

That's so cool, Bryan. You were way close!

I took the kids down there at around noon. Once I realized that Barack wouldn't even be speaking for a few hours, we went home. :( Darn those middle of the day naps.

Anyway, I too was struck by the very thing you mentioned. I have never seen a more varied group of people at any event (except maybe that day that Chipotle gave away free burritos.)

Seriously though, it was inspiring to me. I wish I could have stayed.