Deep Obama Thought

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1. karmicjay says:

   January 17, 2009 at 1:24 pm

   Was able to see the president elect and soon to be first lady wave to the assembled crowds at the Claymont train station as the train slowed down!
   Exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. pandora says:

   January 17, 2009 at 1:31 pm

   I’m jealous. We really wanted to go, but my youngest has a nasty cough and it’s so cold. Fortunately, we were at the event last January… when the weather was kinder.

3. Truth Teller says:

   January 17, 2009 at 1:38 pm

   Watched the whole thing here in Ca. on TV. Thought that the fact that Joe had the train conductor introduce him to the crowd was a class act

4. nemski says:

   January 17, 2009 at 3:12 pm

   Watched it on CSPAN. Good times. Good times. 😉

5. cassandra m says:

   January 17, 2009 at 3:33 pm

   Wow. We walked down and had a decent (but not great) spot. We could see them periodically.

   The crowd was not as big as Rodney Square, I think, but everyone was excited and happy to be there. There were LOTS of kids out in an effort to witness history. Jack Markell gave a great intro speech ( touching on both Harriet Tubman and Thomas Garrett who are the Patron Saints of the neighborhood); having the conductor introduce Joe Biden was a class act as TT says; and Biden’s speech had the atmosphere of being around old friends and neighbors sending off a local kid who done good. Very warm. (BTW — Jack Markell gives very thoughtful speeches — I always have the impression of a man who has wrapped his mind around both the facts and the emotions of an issue.)

   Obama was electric as usual, but this wasn’t campaign energy. The crowd was definitely happy and excited to see him, but this was more in the spirit of alot of confidence that here was someone who would take this job as seriously as it should be taken. Lots of confidence. And we’re going to have to help this guy (and Jack Markell) get what needs accomplishing done.

   The weather wasn’t so bad until the sun started going away. The security scheme wasn’t oppressive and the police (from all over, apparently) were good to deal with. There were LOTS of vendors which surprised me — last time I saw that was a few months back up on 125th St in NYC, which was Obama Merchandise Central.

   It was a real honor to be there!

6. cassandra_m says:

   January 17, 2009 at 4:31 pm

   Muzikal over at DKos has a slideshow of pics from Wilmington stop (look at about mid-page). They are really good….

7. Dana says:

   January 17, 2009 at 5:33 pm

   Of course we have a president, and, right now, that president is George W Bush.

8. liz says:

   January 17, 2009 at 5:39 pm

   Never was my President.

9. Unstable Isotope says:

   January 17, 2009 at 6:30 pm

   Dana,

   Don’t you mean Cheney?

   I actually got to see Obama before he was drawing the huge, huge crowds. I saw him at the YearlyKos convention in 2007. All the candidates (except Biden) were there and had a debate. It was very exciting! Each candidate had break-out sessions with their supporters.

10. John Tobin says:

    January 17, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    We got to the Newark Train station as the train was going by . There were hundreds of people, maybe over a thousand people. We had to park a quarter mile away. This was to watch a train going 60 mph. When a leader can get people to stand in 20 degree weather to watch his train go by at 60 mph, he has tapped into something pretty powerful.

11. PBaumbach says:

    January 17, 2009 at 7:02 pm

    I was a volunteer at the event, and it was an incredible experience.

    Like the Grand Canyon, today’s event cannot be properly captured with pictures (it’s good, but not as good). The excitement, the hope, the spirit were indecribable.

    Each person there has a story.

    The crowd was beautiful, all races, rich and poor, young and old. (The same was true of the volunteers.) The inauguration committee staff, secret service, police, EMTs all did a great job to make the experience as wonderful as possible.

    The weather was bitterly cold, but the magic helped keep us warm.

    The energy when Barack and Michelle hit the stage was electric. I was overcome with emotion, incredulity, disbelief. I felt the same on the night of November 4th.

    After the (fairly brief) speeches, the four ‘principals’, Michelle, Barack, Jill, and Joe, ‘did the rope line’, shaking hands, holding babies, speaking to many, smiling to more, all around the stage. They appeared to be glad to be in Wilmington, and Wilmington was clearly glad to have them here.

    A friend who has tickets to the inauguration told me that he might skip it. He can’t imagine it coming anywhere close to today’s experience in Wilmington.

12. Truth Teller says:

    January 17, 2009 at 9:09 pm

    Look we are here in Ca. and would have love to be able to make it to the train station even though we were Hillary supporters but we are a bit disspointed that pandora didn’t get down there