ObamaFest

Senator Obama chose Fat Tuesday to feast on Hollywood bankrolls and to rally normal folk at a park in the Crenshaw District.  The ObamaFest team was present at the latter, and we enjoyed a rousing speech under blue skies.

We arrived two hours early for the scheduled 3:15 speech.



At around 2:00 an Up With People-type group (Up! Up! Up with people/You meet 'em wherever you go!/ Up! Up! Up with people/They're the best kind of folks we know) began their half-hour set of acapella tunes.  At 2:30, John Densmore's TribalJazz began their half-hour set of funky percussion-centric jazz.   




Then at 3:15 sharp, Senator Obama took the stage and gave a profound speech that talked accurately about the mood in this country and of people no longer tolerating politics as usual.  He touched on "turning points" in America's history, including the drafting of the Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, Women's Suffrage and the Civil Rights movement.  These examples argue for the possibility of a new turning point, with this nation collectively realizing that new levels of justice are attainable with the right leadership.  And with "audacity."

He wrapped it up with a Dr. King quote, " The arc of History is long, but it bends towards justice." 

As promised, we monitored the L.A. Times coverage and found it to be accurate and lacking the "qualifiers" that have marred previous Obama articles.  Times staff writer Michael Finnegan reported:

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama wrapped up his first California campaign swing Tuesday by invoking the civil rights legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. at a Crenshaw rally, then collecting more than $1 million in checks at a celebrity-studded gala in Beverly Hills.

The freshman senator from Illinois offered both crowds variations on his pledge to put a stop to what he called the "slash-and-burn" politics and insider culture of the nation's capital.

"There's something happening in the country," Obama told several thousand supporters waving blue "Obama '08" signs at the afternoon rally on a Crenshaw ball field. "There's a mood in the air. There's a sense that the way we've been doing business for the last couple of decades has to change -- that we are at a crossroads in this nation's history."

Missing from the Times article was an accounting of how the L.A. City Council embarrassed itself, but this was captured nicely by the folks at Petralia.com:

Just before Obama arrived, a bunch of L.A. City Councilpersons squeezed into a little holding pen next to the stage.  So Obama comes out, thanks the former-homeless-guy who introduced him, and then acknowledged the area Congresswoman, Diane Watson, who was standing near the Councilpersons.  Then he starts his speech, but the Councilpeople begin waving their arms and yelling "City Council" and pointing at themselves.  They want to be acknowledged.  Obama says something diplomatic like "A whole lot of nice people, I can't acknowledge everybody, but I love you all."  And he goes back to his story.  But they continue waving and yelling.  And they've all got staff members who amplify what their bosses are doing.  I was embarrassed for them, not just for the way they were acting, but for the fact that Obama had no idea who these jackasses were.  And they seemed to figure that out, because one of them (I couldn't see who) rounded up all of their business cards and put them on the stage - didn't even have the courtesy to hand them directly to Obama.  And now they all start yelling "business cards, business cards!"  So finally, an exasperated Obama goes over, knells down to the cards and reads the names.  And a nice touch was he didn't give them the courtesy of standing back up to read the cards.  From a crouching position he monotones "Jan Perry, Janice Hahn, Bill Rosendahl, Ed Reyes..." and they all cheered themselves while the rest of the city blushed in shame. 

Finally, it looked like Obama could continue, but Councilman Bernard Parks wisely choose to stand apart from his colleagues.  However, he unwisely choose to ape them, and as Obama starts speaking again, a Parks lackey starts yelling "Bernard Parks, Bernard Parks" while raising his boss's arm and pointing to him.  And so Obama says "Bernard Parks" so we can all go on with our day, for f***'s sake.

Los Angeles: A World Class City run by Hillbillies.