September 27 - The Rally - One Year On

People that speak to me for any length of time will know my distain for doubling back. For anything, for any reason. To me, it just points to poor planning and in some way admitting defeat.

For example, if I’m out shopping with the intention of picking up a few things and, say, deodorant is top of the list, and I realize on the way back to the car that I forgot it, I will happily continue home and maybe smell a little less sweet rather than make my shopping trip last an extra 10 minutes.

So, when we’re only four days into a cross-country adventure, it takes something very special to make me turn the car around and back the way we’ve come.

But here we were, a year to the day that both Alex and I saw Obama speak for the first time at rally in Washington Square Park in New York City (by the way, an interesting fact for you, Obama has been on the campaign trail longer than Sarah Palin has been Alaska’s governor) to discover that a joint Obama/Biden rally had been hastily scheduled 50 miles back north from Richmond, VA, in the small town of Fredericksburg.

When opportunities like this crop up, it makes the extra 100 miles added to the trip seem rather insignificant.

By way of repaying the kind hospitality we’d received the night before, we took Kelly (who’d kindly given us a place to sleep) and Aaron and Emily (who’d hosted the debate watch party), with us to Fredericksburg and joined the ever-expanding line.

I should point out that at no time before we entered did there appear to be signs of impending rain. The sun was shining, the temperature was somewhere in the mid 80’s and if anything the concern was with how sunburnt and clammy we’d get outside all afternoon. Just then, it began to rain. A Lot.

It began lightly, but soon all hope that it was just a passing shower was shattered by the crack of thunder that echoed across the University quadrangle.

Eventually, as the darkness began to creep across the campus, the stage lit up like a beacon and Joe Biden and Barack Obama emerged onto the stage to rapturous applause, abating any fears that the rain might quell anyone’s enthusiasm.



Joe spoke first, berating John McCain for his performance at the debate the night before: ‘John McCain was wrong, Barack Obama is right’ came the call repeated again and again. It was a scathing response to the insidious advert the McCain campaign released during and immediately after the debate, in which they had used Obama’s own words that ‘John McCain was right’ [about certain policy matters] as ‘evidence’ that he is not ready to lead this country.

The majority of the polls and pundits gave the debate to Obama, made all the more impressive because the focus was intended to be John McCain’s strong point, foreign policy.

Obama took the microphone from his running-mate and launched into an enthusiastic version of his stump speech, buoyed by his debate success and making references to McCain’s weaknesses from the night before.

A mere five minutes into Obama’s speech the rain began to fall again. In grateful recognition of the crowd, Obama lithely took off his jacket, claiming he would love to pay for everybody’s dry cleaning, ‘but we need the money for the campaign…consider it a modest contribution’ - one the estimated 26,000 people were happy to pay. As Joe Biden stepped forward to take the jacket from Obama’s outstretched hand, he offered a baseball cap in return. Obama casually refused, coolly saying 'I don’t need a hat, I’m gonna give Joe Biden the hat.'

Eloquent as ever, Barack tied the relentless rain into his closing remarks:

‘We've stood out in the midst of storms and bad weather – but in each of those moments, we've risen to meet the challenge, because we've never forgotten that fundamental truth that here in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us.’

Tempered by the storm but encouraged and filled with optimism once more, on this quiet Saturday evening, we left Fredericksburg determined that this message would propel us to North Carolina, Tennessee and a result come November.