Barack Obama should come to Times Square in New York City to close out his campaign. If he comes at 4 or 5 o'clock on a weekday,I personally guarantee that rain or shine, he will have the largest turnout of any event of his campaign. We will dwarf the German turnout, the great Missouri crowd the other day, Orlando yesterday,the Denver acceptance speech, and act as a bookend for the great Anchorage rallies of last month.
Contrast the enthusiasm for the Obama campaign with the ugliness of the Bloomberg/Giuliani-style Republicanism we here have been subject to for the last fifteen (!) years. This is our opportunity to take back the streets of New York.
We want a chance to participate in history. We want our kids to experience the rush and the joy, the comraderie that comes with a show of togetherness, a consolidation of feelings of New York people, Americans from around the country, the international tourists. We can show the people around the world that this campaign covers the big city, the small town and every place in between.
Don't have a rally in Madison Square Garden, or the Meadowlands, or Yankee Stadium. I can't get a ticket, and it smacks of too much elitism to hold a "final" rally in such venue. Give the kids a chance to skip school, the workers to leave early, do a little celebrating.
A dual purpose is to have the Obama campaign give us back our streets. Bloombeg stopped us from marching against this war, he arrested over 1,800 innocent people at the 2004 Republican convention, and he and Giuliani have repressed civil liberties. We need to express ourselves and have some fun, and we need a rally to open some doors and close some as well.
A Times Square rally will be broadcast to the far corners of the earth, showing the world a message about Obama, about New York. There's an old adage that says, winners tell jokes, losers say deal. New Yorkers are ready for a win.
Again, give us a chance to share in history.