I just returned from having "lunch" with the next Vice President of the U.S. (I don't want to jinx him) Vice-Presidential candidate, Joe Biden. The "lunch" was held at the beautiful home of former CA State Controller, Steve Westly. In all honesty, I was in the low roller crowd who were given sack lunches, and then treated to Biden's speech. The high roller crowd had Joe to themselves at a more exclusive luncheon beforehand.
Note - for those of you who are highly visual dependent, this diary does not contain any pictures or videos. I took pictures, but with an "old fashioned" camera, so it will be a while before they're developed.
As is par for the course, I left home about 10 minutes later than I had planned. I was having a bad hair day, so it took me longer to get ready than I expected. Fortunately, I live not far from where the event was taking place, and I would soon discover that the Biden entourage was also running late. Just when I got to a main intersection, cursing myself for dilly-dallying on some unnecessary last minute make-up touch-ups, I look up to see CHP (CA Highway Patrol) cars blocking the intersection to allow the Biden and multiple security cars turn off the highway. That's not your everyday sight in that neighborhood.
A few minutes later I arrive near the house to see a long line of cars already parked on the street. Obviously, those people knew to get there early to go through security checks. I ended up in line at about the same place as my congresswoman, Anna Eshoo (CA-14), but she got taken aside for press interviews.
Once inside the grounds of the Westly's estate (what I first thought was the house was actually the recreation building) I was given a name tag, but not much additional information as to what to do, where to go, or the timing of events to follow. Maybe the Obama volunteers assumed all of us attending were regulars at these high $$$ fundraisers who already knew the drill. I'm not, and I didn't, so I just had to look around and follow cues from others.
Steve Westly has ties with e-Bay and other high-tech and VC businesses in Silicon Valley (Yahoo, Google, et al.) Anyone else who does probably would have recognized many of the names in the crowd, I did not. One gentleman looked vaguely familiar as being a big VC businessman, but he wasn't wearing a name tag.
The 75-100 attendees (about 20 fewer if you don't include Secret Service) were spread around the lush garden, eating our sack lunches (choice of ham, turkey, or tuna sala sandwich, or veggie wrap.) It was a perfect warmish autumn day (mid 70s), after several days in the mid to upper 80s.
At one point I saw people moving toward the inside of the recreation building, where loud speakers were set up, so I wandered in to stake my place near the front. My timing was perfect. Within a few minutes Steve Westly, Joe Biden, and some others walked in, right in front of me (I was about six feet from the "stage".) Westly spoke briefly, thanking key people, including his lovely wife, Anita. Then came "Joey."
It's a wonder Joe Biden remembers where he is from moment to moment. He was to have been in Nevada this morning, then on to two more events in the Bay Area this afternoon and evening. He looked like he might have had a bit of a cold or maybe some allergies, but otherwise was going strong.
Joe started out his speech by reminding us that both Kerry and Gore were well ahead in the polls at this time in their campaigns, which is why we can't get complacent. He referenced Palin's comment the other day that (only) people in North Dakota (?) are "pro-American", and how that was tame in comparison to the mud the GOP will be flinging in the next 17 days. What caught my attention was him saying John McCain was his friend. Apparently, McCain has gone too slimy for even Biden to take any longer.
He went on to describe how the world would be watching the election results. Some world leaders ready to take (bad) advantage of an Obama win, some anxiously hoping he does.
Biden noted how, as Vice-President, he would probably have less influence than he does now on the Foreign Relations Committee. A gentlemen in the front row shouted, "at least you know what a Vice-President does." Which brought laughter from the crowd. Whereupon, Biden said, "and Cheney does too much as a V-P." (Applause.)
Then he went into how Barack Obama really had lived the "American dream." That Barack's mother had made him get up early in the morning to study hard so he could get ahead in a tough world.
[Speech interrupted to introduce his son, Hunter. Please allow this old woman to be sexist for a moment and say, dayamn, is Hunter cute handsome. TV does not do him justice.]
The heartfelt moment came when Biden relayed the story of how he knew his family and the Obama family were a good match. Not only does his wife, Jill, get along famously with Michelle, but the kids like each other as well. During the convention, Joe's granddaughter, Finnegan, had tugged on his jacket, saying they had to have a sleepover. Not quite understanding what she meant, he pressed her for more information. She elaborated (as best a child of her age can do) how several of the Biden grandchildren were already planning a sleepover with Sasha and Melia Obama. They wanted to have pizza and popcorn while watching "The Little Mermaid" or similar movies. This drew many "ahhwwws" from the audience.
I'm already forgetting some of the other key points Joe Biden made. Although knowing it was a "friendly" audience, he didn't go into some of the usual campaign areas of what distinguishes the Obama-Biden ticket from the McCain-Palin fiasco.
Joe closed with a quote from a poem by Nobel Prize winner,
Seamus Heaney. I don't remember the quote, except to say it was about "hope".
After his speech he walked through the crowd to shake hands and have pictures taken. Tall men kept barging in front of me. Seemed like every time I moved to the right, Biden moved toward the left, and vice-versa. Finally I got my chance to shake his hand. All I could think of to say to him (with music blaring loudly in the background) was that as a descendent of John Witherspoon I thanked him (for running.) Whereupon he gave me that infamous Biden grin, put his hands on my shoulders, and made a funny reference how the two of us should be at Plymoth Rock. I'm sure he forgot me as soon as I stepped away, but that was my brief moment with Joe Biden. :))