Where's Medford? That was the question rumored to have roiled the Obama campaign recently--at least as reported in the parking lot of the converted bowling alley where I waited with thousands of others for Obama's arrival on March 22. Medford is on Interstate 5 about 30 miles north of the California border. It is and always has been my home. It is not "blue" and it is definitely not "significant."
How thrilled we were to learn that Obama would be coming to our town. Tickets were gone in about an hour--an hour when I did not have access to my e-mail. That left me, a charter member of "Dog Lovers for Obama", in the non-ticketed line to get into the overflow.
For highlights of Obama's talk and pics as well as some special endorsements, look below the fold.
UPDATE: Thanks to shplk who explained how to size pictures. i was able to make all but one of the pictures normal in the preview, but it would not publish so we are back to the big pictures. Several comments down there is a link to the Medford mail tribune story with a complete video. i recommend this to those interested.
I am having trouble with the pictures. I can see that getting these to come out with interspersed text is way beyond me. Scroll down through the pics--which came out enormous and I'll have the text describing the talk below.
The first picture shows the crowd in the overflow room. We watched the townhall meeting in the next room projected on a large screen. Then you'll see pictures of Obama addressing the overflow room.
Obama came in and addressed the overflow room first. Gen. McPeak, whom I recognized from the Newshour where he comments, spoke about Pres. Clinton's remarks about our choice of patriotic Americans in the next election--the general assured us we would have such a choice--between McCain and Obama. Obama acknowledged our local organizers by name.
He then spoke and took questions. Queried about whether he blamed the Dalai Lama for the violence in Tibet, he said, "I assume that is a rhetorical question." You can never be sure a question is rhetorical in Medford. He went on to say that he had at times been asked about who he had experienced as charismatic. He said only two people stood out that way for him--the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandala. He was asked how he held up through attacks and criticism. He said he focused on why he was doing what he was doing and focused on the work, recognizing that it was not about him. He also said he did not read his press and was helped by his young daughters, who didn't think any of all this was too important. I couldn't help but contrast his response with Hillary Clinton's response to a similar question saying, a bit tearfully, that it was hard.
It was fun to watch him--you can see him thinking and pondering. One of my friends commented that she thought his answers were too long. I suggested that he was conditioning us to develop a longer attention span.
I'll wind up with one story from our post-event lunch. We asked our server, a young woman named Kilmenee (phonetic), if she was voting for Obama. She said she certainly was--it was her father's dying wish. Her father, Dennis, had died in November of cancer. While he was in hospice, near death, a nurse had asked him if there was anything that he wanted. He answered, "Vote for Obama." His voice was weak and the nurse, uncertain she had heard correctly, asked Kilmenee, "What?" Kilmanee said, "He said--vote for Obama."
Then my friend Judy told us about her friend Jane, who had died at 93 a few weeks ago. Jane spoken of "this dying business" and said she regretted that she would not see Obama sworn in.
Let me end with this thought. The dead may vote in Chicago, but they don't vote here in Oregon. We need to do it for them and for those who will come after us. Each one of us needs to go a little farther than we think we can. And we can. Yes we can.