Sapiblog - The Official Blog of Sapitot Creative

On the eve of the Virginia primaries, I was fortunate to secure tickets this weekend to see Sen. Barack Obama speak at a town hall in Alexandria, VA. I have to say, it was a site to behold. We arrived over an hour before the doors were scheduled to open and were greeted by a line of at least a thousand people ahead of us. The news reports definitely have it right, there were whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians, running the gamut from very young to the elderly, from those that were obviously well off to those who looked to just be getting by. He truly has support from all walks of life.

After standing in line for over an hour and the line probably doubling in length behind us (along with dropping temperatures), we were efficiently moved through the lines to the high school gymnasium. From then, we probably sat for another hour. Obama was running late, but at no time did I hear people complaining. Everyone was excited to be there and the crowd was electrified, entertaining themselves with cheering and doing the wave.

Once Obama stepped out into the crowd, the place exploded in cheers. After taking an introduction from Gov. Tim Kaine and a testimonial from a Hispanic mother, he went into his stump speech, frequently interrupted by applause, but also got into specific details of his plans. He also took at least 30 minutes worth of questions from the crowd, showing his wide knowledge of world issues, tackling problems in Africa, school funding, and bridging the bi-partisan gap. In one of the more touching moments, an undecided immigrant voter asked him why she she vote for him saying she was torn between her husband’s choice of Hillary and her son’s admiration of Obama. He brought her 9 year old son on stage for a photo op and then in reply, he took 10 minutes to sell himself, showing he cared enough for this one woman’s vote as if her vote was the only one that matters. From the look on the woman’s face after his answer, I think she’s voting Obama.

I’m proud to have a candidate that I am proud to support. This has been the first time I have felt not only interested, but engaged in the political process, and in 2 day’s time I’m going to my polling place with a sense of dignity in my choice, not just a decision of the lesser evil.