The other day I received an invitation "from President Obama" to attend his health care rally at the University of Maryland. As a skeptical person, who more often than not supports a cause by undermining its detractors, I don't feel comfortable about the idea of being part of a big cheer leading effort, let alone a big PRESIDENTIAL cheer leading effort. That's way too establishment for me.
I've been to rallies and demonstrations before, and listened to politicos that have shown up to give the event some legitimacy (imagine Ted Kennedy speaking Spanish... what a trip!) but they have always been AGAINST something the government was doing, not FOR something the government wanted to do. I've never seen or heard a President live before, let alone listen to a complete presidential speech. I did shake hands with George H W Bush once, but he wasn't even vice president at the time, and it was the only way I could get past him and make my train on time.
So this would be a first for me. I support universal health care, so what the heck, try something new. I clicked "RSVP" and put in for some vacation. Yes, unlike a lot of political activists, I have a regular, full time, demanding, 9-to-5 job.
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It took a long time to drive to the rally, a long time to park, and I ended up a long way from the end of a VERY long line to get in. I was hoping to get some "face time" with the opposition, and as I surveyed the scene over several acres of parked cars I could the Gadsden flag flying off in the distance! Thar she blows! Tea-baggers on the horizon!
As I navigated my way through the ocean of parked cars, I saw a small group of folks with tee shirts that looked like they said "You Lie!". They had a large trash bag that was stuffed full of these shirts. More signs of the great white whale! I now suspect they were in full retreat. They certainly couldn't have SOLD those shirts at this rally, and, as it turned out, if they gave them away they would have been stomped on and trashed. Best to beat it.
The "tea baggers" turned out to be a disappointment. About half a dozen folks, mostly younger, hanging around a Gadsden flag with a few posters as thousands of people streamed by ignoring them. Off on the side, with a sign and flag of his own, not part of the group, was an older fellow. They weren't chanting or shouting slogans or anything. I flashed the peace sign to the younger ones and yelled "Peace Brother!" and a few of them looked up and smiled lamely.
I gave the older guy the peace sign and shouted "Peace Brother!" and he came alive. This fat, bald, red-faced guy was old enough to be my brother, but, truth be told, I'm pretty well preserved. I work out every day. I have a full head of hair. And I dye it. So, I'm pretty sure he thought he was dealing with some young college kid. I wish!
He started yelling "V for Victory, V for Victory" over and over. I came back: "Social Justice is Victory! Victory is Peace! Peace Brother!" Now, the term "Social Justice" is one that I am VERY uncomfortable with. As I said, my natural tendency is to be a skeptic. In fact, that might have been the first time I ever used the term in conversation let alone in public. But given the context - two old farts yelling at each other in front of thousands at a political rally - nuanced dialogue and careful conceptual differentiation just doesn't cut it.
I would have hung around and "dialogued" with the opposition, but they were pretty pitiful and I wanted to make sure I got in, so I went with the flow. Further down the line there was one more cluster of opponents with signs that said "Hands Off My Health Care". I yelled "Hands off your Medicare, right?" and but got no response. I followed up with "Medicare for Everyone!". I think that puzzled them. Some of these "tea baggers" are a bit confused. They think Medicare is part of the "free market".
You would expect, at an event like this, to encounter a few lone nuts wandering around. One lady, sporting an St. Obama shirt of some sort, asked me where we could get the little American flags some of the people in line were carrying. I told her I thought we wouldn't be able to get in carrying a flag, since they told us no posters, signs, etc. She said they would let HER in with a flag, because SHE was SPECIAL. I asked if the security guards had been told she was SPECIAL, and she started to go on about how SPECIAL she was. That's when I realized she was "SPECIAL", in a "SPECIAL" sort of way. I pointed to the VIP entrance off in the distance and told her that was the SPECIAL entrance for SPECIAL people, and she should head over there to get in. It wasn't right for her to have to stand in line, being so SPECIAL and all. I moved on, so I don't know if she followed up on the suggestion.
Along the way there were quite a few other "protesters", but as I found out they were not AGAINST health care REFORM, they were FOR health care REVOLUTION. It was not at all clear, from outward appearances, where they stood. One kid had a sign that said "Health Care Unfair to Students". Thinking he was against government supported health care, and wanting to make a point, I told him "Young man, wear your seat belt" and he said "I do". I then added "And buy your health insurance". He came back: "I will, when there is a public option!" Touche! I gave him the thumbs up.
The oddest "opponents" were a group of girls (all right, young women) wearing tee shirts that said "I
little boys" running up and down the line, asking people to sign a petition concerning abortion. I assumed they were anti-abortion activists, so I started stopping them to give them the rap about social justice being the most effective way of limiting abortions. One of them told me they agreed and were pro-choice! I told her to make sure she made that clear because it wasn't obvious and a lot of people would think otherwise. She went off chanting "Pro Choice! Pro Health Care!".
I don't know what was up with the "I little boys" tee shirts. And I'm not googling that to find out! I don't want the FBI targeting me for a sting operation!
I finally got to the entrance and went through security. This was REAL security. Everything in your pockets out on the table and guards fooled around with every cell phone and camera to make sure they were real. Every purse was carefully pawed through, not just a polite peek. And after walking through the metal detector, everyone was subjected to a personal wanding, whether the walk-through went off or not. I was in, and had only a little bit longer to get to my seat.
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More waiting! I don't go to sports events so the Comcast Center basket ball stadium was a new experience for me. I was seated high up, in front of, but a long way from, the Presidential podium, looking out over court where the tables were for the print journalists, and the bridge for the photographers were set up just behind the space for the "special people" who stood right in front of the podium and dais. These were the labor union activists and others who were being rewarded for their effort and could be counted on to show enthusiastic support. They were probably also the least security risk. In the news photos, it is the top of they who occupy the foreground.
While we were waiting for the stadium to fill up, a brass and percussion band provided a back-beat and the crowd played "stadium games" like "the wave". There was a four way giant screen suspend just above our heads in the center and a "sky cam" was projected scenes from the audience so we could point at ourselves, cheer ourselves, and generally create a spectacle for ourselves. This is democracy: entertainment of the people, by the people, for the people. believe me, it shall not perish from the earth.
One little boy in the audience had a terminal case of ADHD, with the emphasis on the H. He was standing in his seat doing a perpetual motion dance and cheering. The camera could always put him on and get a big cheer from the audience. They started to feature other kids in perpetual motion mode, but he was the champ. He never stopped, and he wasn't doing it because of the camera.
Aside from "the wave" and pointing and waving at ourselves when we showed up on the big screen, the audience was pretty passive. Some more or less organized sections (all wearing the same tee-shirts, or friends sitting in a row) tried to get some chanting going, but most of their slogans were not all that catchy and petered out after a bit. Everyone seemed to be patriotic and on message - the slogans were either about health care for all or general "USA! USA!" stuff. Nothing that could be construed as out of the main stream. Nothing like the "anti" rallies I've been to in the past!
Every once in a while the audience would be fooled into thinking the rally was going to start and everyone jumped to their feet in anticipation of Obama. Finally the rally did start and first up was the "invocation," which has become an Obama tradition. Personally, I find this annoying and inappropriate at a partisan political rally, but the young couple next to me found it to be an opportunity to put their heads on each others shoulders and wrap their arms around each other, so it seems to serve a purpose even I can understand!
We all thought this would get things rolling, but no, more waiting... I won't belabor the point any longer, but they could have done a much better job of keeping the ball rolling after getting started. The long wait to get in is understandable, considering the security precautions necessary, and presidential logistics must be pretty demanding, but the long waits for the next speaker didn't allow for a smooth maximal acceleration of irrational exuberance. It was more of a roller coaster than a ski run.
Next up was Commerce Secretary Gary Locke who did a serviceable job as a "warm up act" to the main event. His speech was appropriately inspiring and appropriately wonkish. He quoted from Ted Kennedy's death-bed letter to frame the issue in moral terms, then moved on to the "bread and butter" rational for "health insurance reform." (Have you noticed that the issue is no longer referred to as "health care" reform, but is now "health insurance" reform? And all along I thought we were going for universal health care! Those crafty politicians!)
After Locke (too long after Locke!) came Rachel Peck, a University of Maryland student who was diagnosed in her first year of college with thyroid cancer. She did a very good job, but obviously had never addressed a crowd of thousands before! Her personal story was not quite on point for the reform effort as a whole, not being as tragic and not having been treated in as obviously an unjust manner as some of the cases that have been publicized, but it was very instructive for the young college crowd since (as Obama would latter acknowledge) this concern is not as high on many of their personal priority lists as some other issues may be. On the whole, however, this crowd didn't need convincing. Over and over again they exhibited a very sophisticated, well informed, ideological commitment to radical reform. As those of my generation might have said when we were younger, they had their shit together.
Ms. Peck finished up with "It is for people like me, people like you, and millions across the United States that we have to address health care reform now" and segued smoothly into "Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States" and Obama finally entered the arena doing the "Presidential entrance" of working the crowd as he moved toward the stage, shaking hands, slapping backs, pausing for pictures. If there were any babies to be kissed, I'm sure he would have done so. In fact, when he made the stage he gave Rachel a hug-n-kiss, but it definitely was one of those socially acceptable euro-greetings. Needless to say, the crowd went wild, cheering, applauding and generally hooting and hollering. Almost deafening.
I don't know how Presidents in general present themselves, since I've never witnessed one first hand before, but Obama was a very good at entertaining, engaging, and inspiring the audience. But he also projects something of an ironic awareness of the situation that ensnares those of us who consider ourselves to be a bit more sophisticated and detached than the normal demos. As he began speaking and the crowd quited down, they remained standing. So he interrupted himself and told us we could sit down now. At one point there was a "Free Bird" moment when the crowd happened to be quite and a lone voice rang out "We Love You Obama" and he came back "I love you back" in a matter-of-fact way.
Obama started out with a topic of primary interest to college students in general, although, as I mentioned, with this crowd he need not have bothered. He told us the House would pass a bill that very day to eliminate the "private sector middlemen" in student loans, that it would create a tremendous savings (80 billion, if I remember news reports correctly) and that when he signs the bill (it has to get through the Senate) it would put that savings into more assistance for students. AND the bill would simplify the financial aid paperwork needed to get that assistance. Now, as a parent who has just gone through the hellish experience of applying for federal financial aid (which you have to do whether you need it or not) that alone assured my vote in 2012!!!
As it turned out, this was a bit more than pandering to the college crowd. It tied in with the health care, er EXCUSE ME, health INSURANCE, reform debate in that it served as an example of how, if government IS going to do something, it need not do it through private intermediaries to do it right. Sometimes private intermediaries are just a waste and a sop to special interests. Obama also countered the notion that the "public option" is a Trojan horse designed to put private insurance companies out of business. He reminded us that private and public universities (like the University of Maryland, BIG CHEER) exist side-by-side and give the American people more choice without doing each other harm. So there you have it folks - sometimes the "public option" does put an end to the private intermediaries, and that's good, and sometimes it coexists peacefully with them, and that's good too! Take your pick. We'll do both! (I told you I'm a skeptic.)
The crowd BOOOO'ed a couple of times. Once when Obama mentioned the forces of resistance to change. BOOOO! And when he mentioned that the Finance Committee, under the leadership of Max Baucus, put out its own bill. Max Baucus? BOOOO! This has been sited in the press as an example of how well informed, dedicated, and committed these kids are. Policy wonks with an attitude!
In my experience, the speakers at rallies like this usually fit into specific categories. There is the "legitimizing politician" who has elective responsibility and stature; there are the more ideologically committed speakers that have no elective office and are therefore free to give vent to the audience's more extreme conceptions; and there is usually also a "master of ceremonies" who serves to introduce the speakers, keep the enthusiasm up by leading chants, cheers and call-and-response slogans. Call him the "rabble-rouser", but often he has to calm the audience down also and remind them of the ground rules for civic behavior. Things CAN get out of hand. Locke's performance fit the role of "legitimizing politician", Obama was his own "rabble-rouser".
And at one point he did get the chance to calm things down. Just as he started to relate several personalized stories of health care injustices, someone started heckling. The audience around this fellow started to yell back. In the cavernous auditorium it was hard to hear what was going on and where. When I located the altercation, someone was standing and yelling out, while another was facing him and appeared to be berating him. Obama heard the disturbance and responded "What's going on, guys? We're doing okay. Relax. Everybody is all right. We're doing fine."
The heckler was lead out by event security. I got the impression from the way he walked out with them that he had done this before and knew the routine. It turned out that he was a member of Randal Terry's cult and was yelling "baby killer". The incident was not widely reported in the press, I only found out about it from a self-serving press release put out by him.
But Obama was at his best ROUSING not DOUSING. This was the best part of his performance. He told his "Fired UP! Ready to GO!" story and made some references that college kids could relate to. In the end he had us all on our feet yelling FIRED UP! READY TO GO! FIRED UP! READY TO GO! And then it was over.
Outside, someone had hung a large, crudely written banner on the side of the parking garage saying, in effect, that as good a job as Obama was doing, Canada has always had and always will have a better health care system than ours. As we streamed out of the auditorium towards our cars, kids were congregating under this sign, taking pictures of it, some with their cell phones to send off to friends. Yep, real policy wonks. But FIRED UP! and READY to GO!
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The American people have, long ago, decided that we are not going to turn our backs on each other and let each other die in the streets. We have taken very overt steps to make sure this does not happen. We have Social Security. We have Medicare. And if you need medical attention and show up at the emergency room, you will be treated whether it is an emergency or a runny nose. But emergency room care is not the most efficient or the most effective way to run a health care system. Our health care system is not doing what it should do, what it can do, and is costing us way too much. Americans pay more, and live shorter lives than those who have rationalized their health care system. IT'S TIME FOR CHANGE!
