Well, the past has not been too political in our lives. However, since the last presidential election (my first time voting - for Kerry) I have slowly become more interested in "the issues" and politics...
Last week, I was in Albuquerque conducting some training downtown. As it should turn out, Barack Obama was speaking in a convention center directly across the street from the hotel where I was located.
On my lunch break, I walked out (this is actually when I found out it was the convention center next door) and saw secret service agents and police all over. About two minutes later I was directed to either go back inside or stay on a street corner. As I was walking to the street corner a parade of SUVs came plowing through and out hops more secret service agents, suits and Barack Obama himself! He waived to the few of us that happened to be on that side of the convention center (there were fewer than 15 of us). Wow, I saw a possible future President from just twenty feet away!
So, I go back in, eat, and decide to go back outside and see if he had left. Outside, everything looks the same (secret service, police, etc). I could hear the crowd cheering in the convention center. There was a downtown park right nearby that I saw a bunch of people gathered. I thought, "wonder what's going on there ... maybe a republican candidate or something," and I walked over there.
When I got to the square there was not much happening except a bunch of people there. Then, as I turn around I saw the police taping off the street with yellow tape and I couldn't get back across the street. Sure enough, Barack was coming from the convention center to the square to do a little public speaking!
He walks up, gets on the stage and tries to use the handheld loudspeaker ... but it wasn't working. So he says, "the heck with it ... I don't need this thing!" The crowd cheers. When he was done speaking (about 7 or 8 minutes) I was cutting my lunch short and started walking back to my hotel. I had five minutes until my class started and the secret service and police stop me and others from walking across the street so that Obama could walk back.
He walked right up to us, shook our hands and moved on. He had really soft hands. Sounds weird, but I thought Larry would appreciate this, given his soft hands. Many of you may not understand. He looked young and healthy!
So, today, regardless of that experience ... I voted for Barack Obama in the Arizona primaries. While I'd probably be happy with either Hillary or Obama ... there were a few issues that I agreed with Obama more on, most notably, healthcare.
So, there you have it! Me (and Stacey too, but she forgot she registered as an "Independent" so she couldn't vote today) being political and involved!
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