Belated Report

Roger and Helen were last heard from inside the XL Center, waiting for the arrival of Barack Obama. The pictures show the result--that's my arm in the multi-colored sweater, not being shaken (he did shake it on the way out; Theo's friend had very strategically seated us in the best place.) I like the other picture, though, because it shows in some detail a system I am fascinated by: the secret service protecting a Very Important Man. Barack now has what Theo describes as very close to full presidential protection--normally that doesn't begin until someone is actually the nominee; it's a sad commentary on our country that the decision had to be made very early to provide the full deal to Barack. Notice, in the crowd picture, the four guys standing just around him--there were in fact six of them, two on each side and two behind and as he moved down the "rope line", they moved with him, like a dance. They are officially identified to one another by pins--you can see the Secret Service star on the man behind Barack, but you can also tell by the fact that all of them wear those little curly wires in their ears. And the knowledgeable (including me; a friend who used to be in security taught me how to tell) can also see that they are carrying concealed weapons in holsters under their left arm (or right, if they are leftys). Roger says they have mini machine guns these days but I'm not privy to that information. In addition to the men immediately around Barack there are a larger number in various crucial sites, just watching the crowd. They look very calm--the man to Obama's left in this picture looks almost bored--but like calm cats watching a bird feeder. They'll move fast if they have to. It's nice to know that in some areas our government works very well.

As for the speech? It was a stump speech and the crowd was noisy and you can hear better things on TV or all over the internet. The best moment, though--and real time is always best--was when he stopped, mid-sentence and said "I think someone has fainted there; please stand back and give her room. Let the paramedics get through." Very calm, very in control. Then he asked "Who has good hands?" and tossed a bottle of water into the crowd (now THERE is a precious souvenir)--stayed quiet for a beat or two and then returned to the sentence he had interrupted. A small moment, but exactly the kind of reaction to a negative surprise that you'd want in a president.

There are so many links to post, good and bad, that I'll settle for one that talks about how much more electable he is than Hillary. The talking heads are starting to say that he's going to be pushed into running as her VP because she can't win without him. I don't think he should do it. Jean sent me this link but doesn't seem to have posted it herself. The touching part is some film at the beginning of him and Michele (what a neat woman she is!) in what was clearly thought to be a private moment. In once sense I'm sorry the media invaded that space--but it's touching to watch. And one more: Garry Trudeau has begun to talk about Obama in Doonesbury--that's a college student at MIT, lying in bed and worrying and talking to her roommate.

And the last picture? That's Roger, whiling away the hour and a half we had to wait reading Jane Eyre. He's still on his Victorian novel kick.